Duty Or Death: Dead Warfare
by Death Valley Reaper
Summary: In just one week, the entire world had been completely ravaged by the Green Flu. And the only question left was: "Now what?" The Left 4 Dead survivors form an alliance with the remnants of the United States military, the international Task Force 141, various foreign allies, and new friends that become family along the way, to fight for survival in a world ruled by the living dead.
1. No More Room In Hell

**This story is a project my friends and I have been working on together. It's a story that has taken a year and a half in the making. Don't give me all the credit. My friends deserve as much credit as I do. We all helped each other to craft this story and make it as best we could. I want to make this better than all my other fics combined. I…no…WE (referring to my friends and I)…hope you all enjoy this. I don't want to see a year and a half of hard work go to waste.**

* * *

 _October 2016, three weeks after the first infection_

 _Washington D.C., the Pentagon_

The Green Flu had completely become a global catastrophe. Throughout the world, the Infected had overrun several major cities. And several countries were completely destroyed as well. What began in the East Coast of the United States of America had turned into something far worse. The world suffered total annihilation. And humanity was on the brink of extinction.

All of this happened in just one week since the infection began.

Washington D.C. had become one of the final standing major strongholds in the world. The entire United States military had been fighting off the Infected for days just to defend the country's capital.

Ever since the plague was spotted, CEDA became the frontline of defense against it. However, due to their failures to contain the virus, the military, mostly units under the command of Lieutenant General Hershel von Shepherd III, had decided to take initiative and take over CEDA's responsibilities.

" _It has been only one week since the infection and the Green Flu has already spread across the Eastern Seaboard. Widespread panic is caused by the rabies-like influenza as authorities struggle to gain control of the epidemic_." said a newscaster on the television.

"Someone turn off that damn TV." remarked General Shepherd as he assessed the critical situation America was currently in.

"We believe Pennsylvania to be ground zero. The perimeter around the city has been breached. We will lose the East Coast in a matter of weeks." said SecDef as he discussed the outbreak with Shepherd, the President, and other high-ranking officials.

"The 2nd Marines are stationed in New York to help the National Guard seal off the Northern Coast. SEAL teams are still trapped in Russia and Delta teams are here to buy us some time to get out of D.C." said Overlord as he went through the short list of assets they had left.

Suddenly, a soldier came running into the room. Everyone immediately turned towards him.

"Soldier, speak up!" ordered General Shepherd.

The soldier managed to compose himself and informed Shepherd of a very urgent situation.

"Sir, we have a distress call from Fire Base Bravo! The hordes have made it past the perimeter of Washington!" said the soldier.

"My God…" muttered the President.

Shepherd turned towards Overlord.

"Has the 1st Ranger Battalion returned to Fort Benning?" he asked.

"Affirmative, they were able to extract Raptor in Virginia." replied Overlord.

"Good. I need them to set up shop and meet us when we get there."

* * *

 _Fort Benning, Georgia_

"My Task Force is out of the country. I am commandeering your unit, Sergeant Foley." said Shepherd as he talked with Sergeant Foley, the acting commander of Hunter 2-1, over a long range satellite radio.

"Yes, sir. All yours, sir." answered Foley.

"Your unit is to assist the National Guard in sealing off Georgia and the rest of the Southern Coast. Can't let them take this corner." said Shepherd once more.

"Just mention the locations on the map, sir. They won't take it." Foley told his commanding officer.

* * *

 _Day 19_

Most of the East Coast had fallen to the Infected hordes. Pockets of military strongholds, such as Millhaven and Fort Benning, were all that remained. The National Guard was mostly overrun and its remaining survivors were now dug in with the Rangers in Fort Benning. With no word from Shepherd since Day 11, Colonel Marshall decided to lead a Task Force for a high-risk rescue operation around Millhaven, which he believed had been overrun. A strike team consisting of members of the 75th Ranger Regiment was formed along with a QRF of National Guard soldiers. The strike team consisted of Sgt. Foley, Cpl. Dunn, Pvt. Ramirez, Sgt. Macey, Cpl. Keating, Pvt. McCord, Pvt. Sandler, Pvt. Wells, Pvt. Morgan, Pvt. Slayback, Pvt. Golden, Pvt. Fahey, and Pvt. Wade.

"Get the MOPP gear on and checked. Make sure there will be no breaches on the suit." said Sergeant Foley as he and his team put on MOPP gear instead of ACUs.

Two Sea Knights, and two Pave Lows, the latter two of whom were under the designation of Warhorse 5-1 and Warhorse 5-2, respectively, were dispatched. Foley's team were among those in the choppers. The team prepared to perform a tactical drop, only to see, to their horror, Millhaven completely destroyed.

"No survivors in sight! Millhaven has been overrun by Whiskey Deltas!" shouted Sergeant Foley.

"Reading flare signatures a few thousand meters by the train station!" said Warhorse 5-2's pilot.

"Roger that! Prepare for search and rescue!" said Foley. "We have a distress signal near this location. We're going to save their lives. Hooah?!"

The team knew just how to respond.

"HOOAH!"

* * *

 _The Train Station_

The flare signal seen by the rescue force appeared to have been from a train station. Two soldiers, one male and one female, appeared to have been left behind by whoever left with the train.

Their names were Jeff and Annie.

"DOES ANYONE COPY?!" Annie yelled frantically.

She was lucky, as Warhorse 5-1's pilot was able to respond to her.

"This is Warhorse 5-1. Hold tight. We have a Ranger team ready to extract you. ETA 2 minutes!"

"Copy that!" replied Annie.

As Jeff was beaten up by Infected, Annie rushed to his side, mowing down the Infected all over him with nothing but her handgun.

"My leg! AAGH! I can't walk!" Jeff shouted in pain.

"I'll drag you to the station! Take this and shoot!" said Annie as she lent Jeff her gun and began dragging him back to the station.

Not too long later, the rescue team arrived. The Rangers rappelled down to extract the two abandoned soldiers.

"Go! Go! Go!" ordered Warhorse 5-1.

"Open fire! Ramirez, provide covering fire for the survivors with the M240!" Foley ordered his younger squadmate, who immediately complied.

Suddenly, McCord's eyes widened.

"60 plus tangos approaching at 12 o'clock! 20 meters!" he shouted.

Sure enough, he was right. A massive group of Infected were approaching the team at a fast pace.

"Keep firing!' ordered Foley.

Hunter 2-1 fired at the horde of Infected. However, the problem was, there were too many of them. And within minutes, several soldiers ran out of ammunition.

"Shit! I'm out!" said Corporal Keating, having run out of ammo.

"Doesn't matter! We're leaving anyway!" replied Private Sandler.

Annie carried Jeff into the helicopter as the team lay covering fire.

"Hurry! C'mon! Let's go! We have to get the hell outta here!" yelled Corporal Dunn.

The Rangers continued firing at the massive horde, but to little to no avail. With Jeff and Annie on board the chopper, the rest of the team boarded, finally receiving confirmation to leave. The chopper took off and flew away from the area, though the Infected continued to chase after it.

"All eagles on board?" asked Sergeant Foley.

"Yeah." replied Sergeant Macey, out of breath. "Goddamn…that was a lot of 'em!"

Foley checked on the two rescued soldiers.

"Is there anyone else out there?" he asked them.

Annie immediately answered him.

"Four civilians. Immune. Headed for the harbor at Rayford."

Foley nodded.

"Sarge!"

Foley turned to the source of the voice. It came from Dunn.

"Dunn, what's the problem?" Foley asked.

"We gotta get back to base! This guy's gonna be a goner!" yelled Dunn as he informed Foley of Jeff's critical condition.

* * *

 _Fort Benning_

About thirty minutes later, the choppers arrived back at base.

"We got wounded!" yelled Dunn as Jeff was carried out by team members.

Jeff was placed on a stretcher by medics and was rushed to medical bay. Annie was taken to a separate room for questioning.

* * *

 _Fort Benning, Colonel Marshall's Quarters_

"Four immune civilians?" Colonel Marshall asked Sergeant Foley.

"Yes, sir. We were informed that they were heading towards Rayford. Specifically, the harbor." said Sergeant Foley.

"Alright, sergeant. Prepare a strike team. I need them alive at all costs. Capture if needed." ordered Marshall.

"Affirmative." replied Sergeant Foley.

"The choppers will expand too much of our reserves. Get the engineers to prep up the Humvees and MRAPs. Those four are responsible for the lives lost at Millhaven, and I will dissect them alive myself if I have to!"

* * *

 **Welp, that ends chapter one. We hope y'all enjoyed it. Currently working on chapter two, which is expected to be published soon.**


	2. Capture

_Fort Benning, Georgia, Day 19, 11:34 PM_

Sergeant Foley sat next to a radio, listening to news chatter.

" _According to the last report, we heard from the Federal Rescue Service a few days before comms went dark. Pennsylvania Stage 10 catastrophe. The Armed Forces have pulled back from the area. The infection has reached Baltimore and authorities have set up fortifications to prevent it from reaching Washington D.C. Virginia has suffered a serious breach and hostile Infected are now rampant in the streets."_

As Foley listened, Colonel Marshall came in and turned off the radio.

"It's outdated." said the colonel. "They've already reached the South and pretty much the whole damn country. Louisiana, Michigan, and even D.C…..all overrun. Only Atlanta and New York are still combat effective in the East Coast. It's been eight days and not a single word from Shepherd. All we can do is somehow hope he got out of D.C. or if he even has a contingency plan. Desertion rates are going higher, Sergeant. I need you all to stay in line."

Foley looked up to him and gave a reassuring nod.

"I'll see to it Colonel. No worries."

Marshall nodded.

"Good. Now get some rest, Sergeant."

"You too, Colonel. You too."

* * *

 _Fort Benning, Briefing Room, Day 20_

The soldiers geared up in their Army Combat Uniforms. They also equipped gas masks and loaded their assault rifles and DMPs.

Colonel Marshall gave everyone a briefing.

"Alright, soldiers! The entrapment operation will happen at the Rayford Port. Our outpost there has been overrun for days. We have a capture objective on four HVIs. According to the report given by Corporal Annie, there are four individuals. Three males and one female. Former criminal last seen wearing a vest and black jeans, an African-American bald man last seen in office attire, a young brunette woman, most likely in her late teens to early twenties, last seen wearing a pink jacket, and an elderly man, former spec ops member last seen wearing a Vietnam War era uniform. Proceed with caution! Wheels up in four mikes!"

* * *

 _Several hours later, The Sacrifice_

The survivors shot at the oncoming horde from the rising bridge. All was well until the generator broke down. Bill watched as his teammates desperately fired at the horde.

"There's too many of them!" yelled Francis.

With a look of vengeance on his face, the old man brought out a Molotov and charged towards the edge of the bridge. Zoey was quick to notice him and tried to hold him back, to no avail. Bill jumped off the bridge and threw the burning Molotov at the three Tanks charging towards him. After he did so, he pushed the button of the generator. The bridge slowly began to rise. Bill looked back up at the bridge and stared at his teammates.

"You guys are the only family I've got! Take care of each other!" he said to them.

"I'm not leaving you, old man!" yelled Francis.

"Bill!" cried Zoey, tears starting to come out of her eyes.

As he watched the bridge slowly rising, Bill closed his eyes and prepared to embrace his fate.

"I won't make it back…"

* * *

The emotional moment was suddenly interrupted by gunfire in the distance. Everyone took cover. The Infected dashing towards the bridge turned around and began running in the opposite direction.

"What the hell?!" yelled Francis.

"Where're those shots coming from?!" said Louis.

There was only one answer to that.

The Rangers and the National Guard had reached their destination, and had their objectives in sight.

"Go! Go! Go! Hustle up! Keep moving!" yelled Pvt. Wade.

The large group of soldiers fired at the oncoming horde of Infected. So far, all was going well. And some of the soldiers were having fun doing their job.

"WOOHOO!" shouted Sergeant Macey as he fired a mounted minigun at the Infected wave. "Hooah, baby! HOOAH!"

"That's it!" laughed Private Slayback as he stabbed an Infected with a knife and threw it over his shoulder. "Die, you ferocious cunts!"

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a concrete rock landed on a Humvee containing members of the National Guard, injuring everyone inside. That Humvee also happened to be in front of another Humvee, which was carrying Foley, Dunn and Ramirez.

"WHOA! WHAT WAS THAT?!" cried Ramirez, who ducked down back inside the vehicle.

He once again got back up through the hole in the roof of the truck to observe what was happening outside. Dunn and Foley stepped out of the vehicle to see where the rock came from.

What the three of them saw in front of them shocked them to the very core.

"Oh my God…" said Sergeant Foley.

* * *

One of the three Tanks that was once heading for Bill was now heading toward the large squad of soldiers, several of whom were retreating and frantically firing at the twelve foot tall monstrosity.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING?!" Dunn screamed in terror as he pointed at the Tank.

"Ramirez! Lay down some fire on it with the 50. Cal!" Foley ordered the young private.

Ramirez immediately did as he was told, firing at the Tank with great accuracy. But despite his best efforts, even the 50. Caliber machine gun did nothing to stop what the Rangers had encountered for the very first time.

"It's not stopping! KEEP FIRING!" shouted Corporal Dunn, panicking.

The shots the Tank took only seemed to have made it angrier, and it began rushing towards the vehicle Dunn, Foley and Ramirez were in.

"GET OUT NOW!" ordered Sergeant Foley.

He, Dunn and Ramirez managed to jump out of the Humvee in time just as the Tank reached it and smashed it aside, knocking down a chain-link fence in the process.

"Everyone! Focus your fire on it!" ordered Foley.

Immediately, five Rangers began firing on the Tank, riddling it with bullets. But to their horror, the creature did not go down.

"Holy fucking shit!" screamed Dunn.

"What the hell is that?" Private Sandler said aloud.

The Tank let out a roar and rushed furiously towards the squad. It punched Sandler, sending him 40 feet away and hitting a wall, knocking him unconscious. Foley's eyes widened as he saw the other two Tanks coming in the distance.

"Shit! Two more of them! We have to move now!" said Foley as he picked up Sandler.

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!" Dunn screamed as he saw the other two Tanks.

Foley looked at one of the functional Humvees as an idea came to his head. He ran to a National Guard sergeant and gave him an order.

"Get in the Humvee and lure them away from here! We can't take all three of them on! Just go and we will meet you at Fort Benning."

The National Guard sergeant nodded. He got into the Humvee, turned it on, and proceeded to drive away as the Tank furiously ran after him.

* * *

Meanwhile, after being inadvertently saved, Bill decided that now was the time to make a run for the bridge. He was barely able to make the quick jump to hang on to the ledge of the bridge just before it got too high.

"Hang on! I got you, old man!" said Francis as he grabbed Bill's hand and helped him up onto the bridge.

"C'mon. We have to go run and cross the bridge or they'll either kill us or worse." said Bill as he stood up.

"Those soldiers from Millhaven followed us all the way here?" questioned Louis.

"I hate the Goddamn military." said Francis for nearly the millionth time.

"But….I can't run with a busted leg." said Louis, gesturing to his injured leg.

"Don't worry about it." said Bill.

He was caught off guard by Zoey, who hugged him briefly, before letting go a few moments later.

"Bill, let's get out of here." she told him. "You okay?"

"I'm fine. Don't worry." Bill assured her. "Now let's go."

Zoey nodded, and looked down at Louis.

"Louis, I'll help you. Come on. Let's get you up."

* * *

As the survivors made an attempt to flee, the Rangers fired on the same Tank they had been struggling with.

"I got AT! Rocket out!" said Cpl. Keating.

The Tank roared and was crippled as the RPG hit him. It let out a final groan as it was finished off by gunfire.

"Don't celebrate just yet!" said Foley. "Get the other one!"

As the last Tank rushed forward, the Ranger squadron managed to slow it down with loads of machine gun fire and kill any other Infected with it. Mere seconds later, the Tank let out a growl and collapsed to the ground, moving no more.

"Hold your fire." ordered Foley.

Slowly approaching the dead Tank along with two other Rangers with his M4A1 pointed at it, Fahey fired two shots into its head in order to ensure and confirm that it was dead.

"Clear!" he yelled.

"Hostiles down!" said Sergeant Macey.

* * *

Foley ordered Dunn and Private Morgan to help the injured National Guard members in the first Humvee, whereas he and the rest of the Ranger squadron began running after the survivors.

"I see them!" Private McCord, pointing at the survivors who were running in the distance.

"Keep going after them! We need them alive!" said Foley.

Louis immediately looked back and saw the Ranger squadron chasing them.

"They're chasing us!" he informed his companions.

"Keep running! GO!" shouted Bill.

Minutes later, they made it to the other side of the bridge, only to encounter members of the National Guard standing in front of them. With the Rangers right behind them, the survivors realized there was nowhere left to go. They were now cornered completely.

"Got'cha." muttered Foley as he ran towards the survivors.

"Shit." said Zoey.

Looking down at the water, the survivors were now faced with a very tough decision.

"Should we jump off? What do we do?" asked Zoey, looking for a solution.

"We can't risk it." said Bill. "I don't think Louis can make that jump."

"Ah HELL!" said Francis.

Zoey reloaded her handgun and Louis cocked his Uzi as the four prepared for an intense confrontation. The military had all their weapons pointed at the survivors while a designated marksman and his team rushed to a vantage point.

"Drop your weapons or we will fire on you!" ordered Private McCord.

The survivors just looked around, looking for a way out.

"Drop 'em, dammit. Just drop 'em." Dunn whispered to himself.

"Please just listen to us! No one has to get hurt here!" said Foley.

"Hunter 2-1, this is Echo 3. In position with a tranquilizer and ready to assist." the Marksman told Foley.

"Copy that, Echo 3." said Foley.

As the survivors contemplated, Echo 3 took aim at the survivors with the tranquilizer gun. At that moment, Francis decided that now was the time to get out of cover. He did so and fired two shots with his combat shotgun.

"Get down!" yelled Foley.

The other soldiers took cover just in case Francis fired his gun again.

"FUCK YOU, YOU COOKIE SCOUT PRICKS!" yelled Francis, aiming his gun at the soldiers around him.

"Echo 3! Do it now!" ordered Sergeant Foley.

Echo 3 immediately complied, and fired a dart at Francis, hitting him in the chest with a dart. The survivors gasped.

"ACK!" Francis gasped in pain.

Francis collapsed on the ground and passed out within seconds.

"Francis! No!" shouted Zoey.

"Shit!" exclaimed Louis.

At that point, Bill decided to comply with the military's orders.

"We have to turn ourselves in. If we don't, we might as well kiss the world goodbye. We don't wanna risk that." he told Louis and Zoey.

Louis and Zoey were reluctant, but eventually gave in. The three conscious survivors stepped out of cover with their hands up and their weapons down on the ground.

"Don't shoot, soldiers. We're coming out." said Bill.

The Rangers walked towards the three standing survivors and handcuffed them, while Dunn and Ramirez placed Francis on a stretcher. The four were then placed in an MRAP.

"You three better not do anything stupid." said Dunn to the three conscious survivors, before closing the door.

* * *

Sergeant Foley walked towards him to check in with him.

"Casualties?" the sergeant asked.

"Zero, Sarge." replied the corporal. "But several are hurt bad and two of our Humvees are fucked."

Suddenly, Foley picked up something on the radio.

"Hunter 2-1, we made it out." said the voice of the National Guard Sergeant. "Goddamn…they were hauling ass. I don't think we can outrun them next time around. I'll see you at base."

"Thank God." said Foley. "Copy that. Glad to hear you, Alpha."

As the radio went dead, Foley's attention was brought to the arrival of Echo 3, who brought their Bradley infantry vehicle to Foley's side of the bridge.

"Wait here, Dunn." said Foley.

"Hooah."

Foley approached Echo 3, whose team seemed to have appeared out of nowhere on the other side of the bridge during the confrontation.

"Thanks for the assist. Who sent you?" Foley asked the group commander as he shook hands with him.

"Captain Jane, 1st Platoon, Maryland National Guard." replied the commander of Echo 3. "We were sent by Colonel Marshall. I'll tell you more on the way back."

Suddenly, every soldier was alerted by the sound of the Infected howling in the distance.

"Ah shit." said Dunn.

"That doesn't sound too good. We should get the hell out of here." said Captain Jane. "C'mon. You and a few of your team can ride with us."


	3. Wake Of Devastation

_On the road to Fort Benning, Day 21, 1:02 AM_

* * *

The soldiers were making their way back to Fort Benning in Humvees, a Bradley and an MRAP. While driving the MRAP, Jane updated Foley, was riding shotgun, on what had happened recently.

"General Shepherd has made it out of Washington D.C. and is now in Fort Benning. The evacuation went FUBAR, almost 2,000 dead, both from ours and civvies."

"Shit." said Sergeant Foley.

"The Infected tore us a new one in Baltimore too, and we couldn't keep it, so we were sent to reinforce Atlanta and assist the Atlanta Guard, which is where we're headed." continued Captain Jane. "Benning is now our F.O.B."

"Status of New York?" asked the sergeant.

"The Marines are stationed there. I heard it's still up. New York and Atlanta are the last two cities standing." replied Captain Jane.

"Let's hope that their "standing" status will remain that way." said Sergeant Foley.

* * *

Meanwhile, as the two squad leaders were conversing, the large man restrained on a nearby stretcher began to stir. Then, he woke up with a gasp.

"Argh…what the hell?!" he shouted as he found himself restrained.

"Francis." Zoey said with a gasp.

It took a few moments for Francis to figure out the situation he was currently in.

"What the hell happened?"

He turned his head to see the soldiers seated near up front, and saw his teammates handcuffed. Anger built up inside the biker's chest.

God. He hated the military even more now.

"HEY! HEY!" he shouted.

Private Ramirez took notice of him.

"Whoa there! Stand down!" he ordered.

"Where the hell are you taking us?!" shouted Francis, struggling to get out of his restraints.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Jane yelled from the driver's seat.

Bill immediately tried to shush Francis in an attempt to get him to calm down.

"Francis. Settle down." he told his teammate.

Corporal Dunn maintained his composure and attempted to calm the survivors down.

"Stay calm, guys." he said. "Anyone of you hurt?"

"Why the hell are you trying to help us?" questioned Zoey.

Dunn rolled his eyes and looked at her.

"Look kid, you wanna be helped or not?"

That worked, as Zoey immediately shut her mouth. And the rest of the drive was silent.

* * *

 _Fort Benning, 1:39 AM_

Everyone arrived at the base and saw it and its troops in a hectic and stressed state as Infected breached its perimeter. The soldiers got out of the vehicles and got the survivors out as well.

"Come on, guys. Let's move." said Dunn.

The survivors and the soldiers moved away from the vehicles and saw Colonel Marshall and General Shepherd approaching them. They raised their voices as a lot of talking, shouting and gunfire were heard in the background.

"Glad to see you and your team in one piece, Sergeant!" complimented Colonel Marshall.

Foley nodded, and turned to General Shepherd.

"Sir, we have the four HVIs!" he informed the general, directing the latter's attention to the four survivors, who were still standing dumbfounded.

Shepherd nodded with a smirk.

"Good job. But now I need your team in Atlanta." said Shepherd. "Boys, I know you haven't had much R&R, but we need to hold Atlanta at all costs."

He pointed at the survivors.

"Get those four in the MRAP!"

The survivors were then led back to the MRAP.

"And take Annie with you!" said Marshall.

"Jeff! What about Jeff?" asked Sergeant Foley, slightly confused as to why Jeff wasn't coming along.

Colonel Marshall shook his head sadly.

"We…had to put him down. He turned."

"Dammit." muttered Foley.

"Hurry up! The Infected are pouring in!" said Captain Jane.

As the Infected breached, the ever-familiar Boomer got into close proximity with four soldiers. One of them, not knowing what the Boomer could do, shot it, causing it to explode and covering all of them in bile. Because they were blinded by vomit, they were unable to fight back the Infected nearby and were left vulnerable to them. All they could do next was scream in pain and terror as the Infected immediately turned them into an All-You-Can-Eat buffet.

Shepherd tried not to look as four of his men were being eaten alive.

"Come on! Let's got the hell outta here! Get to Atlanta!" he ordered as he boarded the MRAP.

* * *

 _Atlanta, 2:26 AM_

As Jane drove, he picked up static and informed Shepherd of what he was hearing.

"Sir, you might wanna listen to this."

Military comms chatter:  
 _"Checkpoints Charlie and Lima are down!"  
"This is Wolverine actual! Our armor support is down and we are 40 percent combat effective!"  
"Onyx Team is K.I.A!"  
"Broken arrow! Broken arrow! WE ARE BUGGING OUT!"  
"Major Reyes is infected!"  
"This is Jester 2-6! We are going down!"_

"My God…" muttered Shepherd.

"Doesn't sound too good." said Captain Jane.

"General, what's the game plan?" asked Colonel Marshall.

"We will gain more casualties if we attempt to hold Atlanta. We will have a mass evacuation. Most of CT-One will retreat to New York. The president wants us to follow after him in the NORAD bunker in Colorado. I have an AC-130 stationed in on the airstrip. A Delta team is awaiting us there." said General Shepherd.

"How about these civvies?" asked a soldier named Parker.

"We have to take them to Colorado with us." replied Marshall. "They are immune."

The survivors overheard this, and were confused as to what was happening.

"What the hell?!" said Francis.

"Colorado?!" said Louis.

"God help us…" groaned Zoey.

"They're gonna dissect us if they get a chance." said Bill. "We have to get out of here."

As they all looked around in the MRAP, they caught sight of a familiar soldier. Annie.

"ANNIE?!" Francis cried out in surprise.

"What the hell is going on?!" questioned Louis.

"Guys, it's okay. Calm down. I'll explain everything later." Annie assured them.

As Jane drove, everyone all caught sight of Atlanta. The city was a tense and bloody battlefield in a military struggle against the Infected.

Shepherd suddenly caught sight of something standing on the road a few feet in front of them. Something big.

A Tank.

"ROOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRR!"

"LOOK OUT!" cried Shepherd.

"SHIT!" cried Jane as he rammed into the Tank, killing it.

* * *

Seconds later…

"Everyone alright?!"

"Hooah!"

As everyone climbed out of the crashed vehicle, members of BCT-One covered their escape while they lay fire on the Infected surrounding them.

Bill assisted his three teammates while Dunn and Annie checked on them.

"You four good?" asked Dunn.

Zoey glared at him in distrust. But still managed to push her words out her mouth.

"Yeah…"

"Annie, what the hell is going on?" asked Francis.

"Just trust me on this." she assured him.

As the soldiers took up positions on the highway next to the crash site, the survivors were uncuffed. However, they were not given any weapons, for the soldiers knew that the survivors would potentially use the weapons against them.

"40 plus tangos incoming!" yelled Private Sandler as he pointed at the swarm.

Foley began barking out orders.

"Ramirez! Lay down some fire on the Infected with the M249! Keating, switch to the M203!"

While the majority of the squadron took up positions and fired on the Infected, Shepherd and Marshall got on the radio.

"Overlord! We are trapped at the highway at Grid Square Papa Bravo North! Requesting reinforcements and escort run!" said Marshall.

Overlord replied.

"Roger that. Brigade Combat Team One has peeled off an Abrams tank to assist. Callsign is Rhino 2."

"The airstrip is a few clicks north! F-15s are on their way to thin the Infected down. We will leg it once the air strike is done." said Shepherd.

"Case and Trent, lase the targets!" Jane ordered two of his men.

The bombs dropped and the soldiers got ready to move out. Shepherd pulled out his 44. Magnum and began shooting at several Infected, most shots landing in the head.

As he was firing, Private Slayback suddenly caught sight of something heading towards Private Fahey at a fast pace.

"Fahey! Watch out!" he warned.

But it was too late, as a Charger arrived and rammed Fahey, before beating him with his arm. A loud snap was heard upon the second smash, confirming that Fahey's back had been broken, and meaning that he was dead. The other soldiers killed the Charger, and noticed Fahey's unmoving body on the ground.

"Man down!" yelled Slayback.

Shepherd immediately looked at the survivors. Thinking quickly, he went over to Fahey's body and picked up the fallen soldier's M4A1. He handed the rifle to Bill and his M9 Beretta handgun to Francis.

"Try anything funny and we will kill you." Shepherd warned.

Bill handed Zoey and Louis his pistols.

"Take them. Just take them. You two will need to defend yourselves." he told them.

"Everyone! To the airstrip! Let's go!" said Shepherd.

* * *

 _The Airstrip_

Before long, accompanied by Rhino 2, who they had already met up with, the group reached the airstrip, fighting Infected as they went. It was tough fighting through the Infected waves since they kept coming, but thanks to assistance from Rhino 2, everyone was able to make it through.

Before long, Rhino 2's spotter, Carter, ordered the tank to fire on the wall blocking the entrance of the airport.

"Hunter 2! Move out of the way!" ordered Rhino 2.

"Everyone! Move back!" ordered Sgt. Foley.

Everyone took cover as the tank fired at the wall, destroying it.

"YEAH!" yelled Francis.

"This is as far as we can go. Good luck, Hunter 2-1. God be with you." said Rhino 2.

"Rhino 2, thanks for the assist. Over." said Foley.

Just as everyone got to the plane, a Delta team, led by callsign Sandman, rendezvoused with the team.

"They're here!" said an African-American member of the team.

"Sergeant Foley, Hunter 2-1." said Foley, introducing himself to the Delta Team's leader.

"Callsign: Sandman." replied the Delta leader, before looking at the general. "General Shepherd."

Shepherd nodded.

Everyone immediately got on board the plane.

"Okay." said Sandman. "Let's get out of here! Pilot! Kick it!"

Just as they were about to dust off, something went horribly wrong.

The plane had malfunctioned.

* * *

"What's wrong?!" questioned Sandman.

"We need two minutes! The second engine is jammed!"

"But there's too many of them coming!" shouted Bill.

"I'm sorry!" said the pilot. "But you guys need to hold them off for now!"

"I take it back! I love the Army!" exclaimed Francis, laughing.

Bill eventually decided to join the other soldiers on the hatch to help hold the Infected horde off.

"Francis, take care of Louis and Zoey! I'll help the others hold the line!"

Francis nodded. Bill ran out of the plane to join the other soldiers and fired at the oncoming Infected.

"Someone has to go down there and fix the jam!" said the pilot.

Captain Jane was reluctant to do so, but wanting to do the right thing, he gave in.

"Fuck it. Case and Trent! With me! Let's go!" he ordered.

They ran out of the plane, and were noticed by Foley.

"All Hunter 2-1 eagles, provide covering fire for Echo 3!" he ordered.

Hunter 2-1 and Bill continued firing at the horde. But as time went by, it seemed obvious that the horde was not going to diminish easily. In fact, it appeared that their numbers had now doubled. And several soldiers had run out of ammo.

"Back on the plane! Go! Go! Go!" ordered Foley.

Bill and the rest of Hunter 2-1 re-boarded the plane, still firing at the zombies they could still shoot easily. Outside, Echo 3 finally managed to fix the jam.

"Got it!" said Captain Jane. "The jam is clear!"

However, because the Infected horde were now mere feet away from the plane, the pilots were forced to close the hatch.

"What the hell?!" said Bill.

"Open the hatch! We can't leave them!" said Foley.

"It's too risky!" said Sandman. "We do that and we all die!"

Outside, Jane, Case and Trent were moving back and firing at the Infected. Jane was waving his arm, gesturing the plane to leave.

"Just go! GO!" he yelled.

"NO!" shouted Foley.

The plane started to move faster and finally took off with the Rangers, Delta Team, and the four HVIs.

Echo 3 was presumed K.I.A.

* * *

 _6000 feet above ground, 3:47 AM_

The acting leaders of each unit were in the cockpit discussing their next approach.

"Damn it…" muttered Foley.

Sandman shook his head.

"I'm sorry. But someone had to go down there." he said.

"If we don't stop the plague, Captain Jane and the rest of Echo 3, as well as tens of thousands of other brave men and women, would've died for nothing." said General Shepherd.

"We lost Atlanta." said Sandman, sounding defeated.

"That HVI we extracted from Virginia did meet with the CDC in Atlanta." said Colonel Marshall. "They weren't able to get anything. The last person we were able to contact was Dr. Edwin Jenner."

"The CDC was rigged to blow up once the generators stopped." said Shepherd. "It's probably just rubble by now. There's no more point in trying to go back to Atlanta, especially if it's now occupied by the walking dead."

"Next stop…NORAD HQ." said Marshall.

Foley turned towards Dunn.

"Dunn, check on the civilians."

Dunn nodded.

"You got it, Sarge."

* * *

As Bill tended to Louis and Zoey, Francis stood up and walked over to Annie. Dunn approached the other three.

"Let me check on that leg." he said.

Louis attempted to get some rest and remained silent.

"Thank you." said Zoey.

Dunn looked at her and nodded.

"Ramirez, get me some new gauze." he ordered the private.

Ramirez grabbed gauze and a few other supplies. He gave the gauze to Dunn. Then, he offered a water bottle to Bill.

"No thank you, son." replied the older war veteran. "I think there are others who need it more than I do.

Ramirez simply nodded and handed the water bottle to Zoey, as well as an MRE packet.

"Thanks." said Zoey.

"No problem." said Ramirez. Now get yourselves some food and shuteye."

Dunn finished wrapping up Louis' leg. The result wasn't perfect, but it was the best Dunn could do.

"That's all I can do for now." said Dunn. "We'll take him to medical bay once were reach our destination."

He looked at Ramirez.

"Ramirez, with me. Let's report back to the Sarge."

The two went up front and reported back to Foley.

"I wouldn't thank them yet. We don't know what they want." said Bill.

"Where are they taking us?" wondered Zoey out loud. "I hope we start getting details.

She looked at Louis, who was now asleep on the stretcher with a dextrose.

"Poor Louis." she said.

"We promised ourselves to never have anything to do with the military again." Bill told her.

"At least they bought you time to get out of that port alive." Zoey reminded him. "That's something you should be grateful for."

Francis returned to the other three, having finished his conversation with Annie.

"Yo, Annie says we're gonna be meeting with good ol' Barry O." he informed them.

Zoey laughed sarcastically, not believing him.

"She must be joking."

"Well, she always was a fan of peanut butter." he said with a chuckle.

"Stop it. But did you ask her if she knew what happened to Jeff?" asked Zoey.

Francis shrugged.

"She doesn't like bringing him up. They were close."

Zoey looked out the window and saw the sun rising. She couldn't help but smile a little.

"I hate planes." said Francis. "I'm gonna get some sleep."

He walked off to a quieter part of the plane.

"Get some rest, Zoey. I'll stay up in case they try anything." said Bill.

Zoey nodded.

"Here's hoping this Colorado trip goes well." she said.

The plane sped up as it headed for its destination. The sun rose up and ironically, it was the only time where everyone was able to get their much-needed rest.

* * *

 **Catch that Walking Dead reference?**

 **Anyway, we hope y'all are enjoying the story so far. Chapters 4 and 5 are coming soon. Other than that, Merry Christmas, everyone! – DVR and crew**


	4. Around Every End: Part One

**This overall chapter's gonna be very long, so we're gonna be dividing it into two parts. This one is part one. We still hope you guys enjoy it anyway. Be prepared for what may come in this chapter.**

* * *

The plane carrying the Rangers, Delta Force, and the four civilian survivors continued on its way to Colorado.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, the United States Navy SEALs and the Task Force 141 remained trapped in Russia after a daring raid on a notorious Russian Ultranationalist's various territories. While they did not find and kill him, they still managed to extract information that would prove useful to curing the outbreak and uncovering its true origins. As they fought through countless Infected, the Russian government or what remained of it, Vladimir Makarov's men, bandits and other such threats, they continued to struggle to escape Russia.

If they failed to get out of the country or get killed…

…the solution to the Green Flu would probably be never found.

* * *

 _Russia, near the Georgian-Russian border, Day 21, 4:42 AM_

The SEALs and the 141 took cover in the basement of a small house. Shaking and turbulence was occurring as the Russian Armed Forces attempted to shell it. The soldiers were in a hectic state as they returned fire on both the oncoming zombie horde and the Russians.

"We rendezvous with the Russian Resistance at the top of that hill!" said Captain John Price, pointing at said hill in the distance. "It's two clicks away, so we might have to use the Infected to our advantage. Let's get this DSM to command.

Callsign Worm, the SEAL team leader, handed Price a prototype weapon.

"This could help." he said. "It's a CEDA manufactured tool. It seems to attract the Infected when it combusts. Nicknamed, "Boomer Bile."

Lieutenant Simon "Ghost" Riley nodded his head in approval of the weapon.

"Okay! Let's do this!" he said.

The team moved out of the house and engaged the Russian forces in a tense firefight. In the distance, they saw two BTRs and almost a hundred infantry soldiers about 100 meters from their position. Worm saw a nearby sewer trench with sandbags and machine guns.

"Pull back to the sewers!" he said.

"Oh boy. This is gonna get messy." said Captain John "Soap" MacTavish.

As they took cover in the sewer system, the team was pinned down by machine gun fire. At that point, that was where Worm's prototype came in handy, and Price got the idea of what to do.

"Roach! Loud some rounds of the Boomer Bile into your M32 launcher! Aim for their densest position!" he ordered.

Roach nodded and did as he was told. He carefully aimed at the Russians, before firing three rounds of Boomer Bile as the rest of the team provided covering fire for him. Then, the Infected came rushing to the Russian infantry.

The first BTR ran out of ammo and was immobilized by the sheer numbers of the horde. With the Russians currently preoccupied by the Infected, the Joint Spec Ops team took this as the opportunity to start moving. They jumped down the tunnels and snuck away down to the sewer system tunnels located underground. They turned on their flashlights and checked their weapons.

"Okay." said Soap. "Keep your voices down. We don't know what's in these tunnels."

"This tunnel leads to the northern side." said Price. "Chemo and Rocket, watch our six. Royce, take point."

"Roger that." replied Royce.

* * *

As the team made their way through the sewer tunnels, none of them noticed a dark figure stalking them from the darkness. The figure made a very low growling noise that almost none of the soldiers could hear, confirming that whatever it was, it wasn't human.

Roach turned around, being the only one who was actually able to hear the growl.

But even with his flashlight on, instead he found…

…nothing.

"Roach. Come on." said Soap, noticing Roach, before moving on with the rest.

Roach continued along with his team. But a bad feeling came upon him. He felt goosebumps rise on his arms, and chills that ran down the back of his neck to his spine. He tried to brush the feeling off, but it just kept coming back to him. He knew that something was very, VERY wrong. He couldn't put a hand on it though. But he just knew, that they all had to get out of there.

* * *

The group traveled half a kilometer underground as they made their way to the Resistance. Little did they realize that the Russian Spetsnaz was still hot on their trail and had chased them down the sewers.

Price heard something bounce onto the floor. And his eyes widened as he took notice of said object rolling on the floor.

It was a grenade that had been thrown by a Russian.

"GRENADE! MOVE!"

Everyone moved out of the way as the grenade exploded. However, the explosion caused debris to fall from the ceiling.

"Shit! Watch out!" Price yelled as he pulled Soap from being crushed by the debris. This ultimately sealed the tunnel in half, with most of the team on one side and Chemo, Rocket and Callsign Gridlock trapped on the other. Fortunately, the Russians were quickly massacred by the Infected in the tunnels, and screams in Russian were heard by the team. Soap quickly tried to contact the three with his handheld radio.

"Chemo! Chemo! Do you copy?!" he said.

Chemo was heard coughing on the other end.

"We copy, MacTavish!" he said. "It's blocked! We might have to-"

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" interrupted Gridlock. "Hear that?"

Gridlock had heard growling in the darkness. But he couldn't see anything in the pitch black, even with his flashlight on.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!"

Suddenly, a piercing screech sounded out and a hooded figure pounced on Rocket and proceeded to tear him apart as he got a full mount on him, much to the surprise of the other two 141 operatives. In the process, Gridlock accidentally dropped his gun.

"Fuck!" shouted Chemo as he tried to aim his UMP45 at the hooded figure, but hesitated in fear of shooting Rocket by accident.

In mere seconds, Rocket's cries for help turned into gurgling as blood poured out his neck. His body then went limp. The hooded figure then turned to the two remaining soldiers and only then was Chemo able to fire. As the figure proceeded to jump towards him, he fired three shots to its head, dispatching it.

The rest of the team on the other side were breathless and pale, especially Roach. He knew he had the bad feeling something terrible was going to happen after hearing that low growl.

"What the hell just happened?!" questioned Soap.

"Fuck. Rocket's K.I.A." said Chemo in shock and regret as he had failed to save Rocket's life.

All of a sudden, Gridlock spotted a female Infected with a noticeably long neck and shot it down with his Glock 18. But before Gridlock fired the shot, it spat out what appeared to be acid. He managed to get out of the way in time, but Chemo was hit and burned by the acid. He collapsed to the floor and began screaming in agony as Gridlock helplessly watched. It wasn't long before a swarm of Infected arrived and Gridlock was cornered completely, and he was swarmed and devoured in the process. Through the radio, Soap heard their cries of agony, which slowly died away.

"DAMN IT!" he yelled in frustration over the loss of three good men.

"Bloody hell." muttered Ghost.

"Soap. There's nothing we can do for them now. We have to go." Price told Soap as he tapped him on the back of the shoulder.

Soap slowly stood up and walked away with the remaining team members.

Roach took one look back at the debris, before walking off.

* * *

30 minutes later…

The team eventually found their way out and exited the sewers. Knowing their way to the top of the hill, they continued to make their way up to it.

Unfortunately, they were intercepted by the second BTR.

"GO! GO! GO!" shouted Price.

The BTR chased the group in hot pursuit as it tried to shoot them down, destroying and putting down many trees in the process.

"Keep moving! Don't stop!" shouted Price once more.

"SHIT!" yelled Ghost.

Happening just in the brink of time, a furious roar was heard from what sounded like an enormous Infected.

Sure enough, it was.

A Tank, who appeared to have been a former Spetsnaz soldier, jumped on the BTR and ripped the main mounted weapon off of it as the occupants screamed in terror. Mere seconds later, the creature destroyed the armored vehicle with ease, killing everyone inside.

"Holy shit! What in the fuck is that?!" shouted a Navy SEAL called Zach as he saw the twelve foot tall monstrosity.

"Keep running! That motherfucker ain't on our side either!" said Worm.

Fortunately for them, the Tank's attention was caught by the Russian soldiers running up the hill. It grabbed the smashed BTR and threw it at the Russian squadrons, killing over a dozen Spetsnaz operatives. The angry Infected beast charged at the other Russian soldiers.

With the Tank distracted, the team was able to make it to the top of the hill without any more obstacles in their path. There, they were greeted by Russian Loyalist rebels. Everyone was exhausted and they didn't hesitate to show it, but they shook the fatigue off in order to be able to move on.

"Good to see you again, Price." said Sergeant Kamarov with a smile.

"I knew a familiar scent was around here." said Price with a smirk.

Kamarov gestured everyone to follow him.

"Come. There is not much time."

* * *

 _Loyalist Rebel hideout, 6:32 AM_

Kamarov led the team to an underground tunnel that the rebels dug, which they used for shelter and weapons storage. He stared at the women, children, injured rebels, and body bags in deep sadness as tears nearly fell from his eyes. He then addressed the whole spec ops team and made a very shocking revelation to them. Everyone turned their attention to Kamarov and listened to him closely.

"When the Ultranationalists took over, we at the Loyalist Party went into hiding in Northern India, but made our way here once we heard from your informant, Nikolai, that you needed backup. The new government seems to have something to do with this demonic plague." he said while his eyes were focused on the ground, expressing a look of shame, sadness and regret.

"So…it's a biological weapon?" asked Price.

Kamarov nodded.

"Yes. We believe it was used against the US and the weapon was released in the East Coast."

Soap looked at Price as his thoughts started to gather up.

"It all makes sense." he said. "They must've cracked the ACS module before Roach and I retrieved it. They bypassed the early warning systems and that stealth aircraft must've been carrying the weaponized pathogen made it far enough into land."

Worm, who looked noticeably aggravated, rushed in front of Price, Soap and Kamarov.

"So, that aircraft our fighters shot down over Pennsylvania on September…that…that was…that fucking thing carried the damn virus?!" he said while being barely able to make out his words.

He punched the wall in frustration. His fellow SEAL, Zach, approached him. Worm, who was still facing the wall, began to share something. Albeit, in a slightly bitter tone.

"I had a family in Baltimore a week after it started. We were already sent here at the time, so I couldn't come to their rescue. I contacted my good friend…Captain Jane, Maryland National Guard, 1st Platoon. He contacted me and told me…he found them…but he didn't find them alive. They didn't make it. My wife had already turned and…and what used to be the woman I loved had already ripped apart my two kids. I would do anything…and I mean ANYTHING…to be able to spend one more second with my family again."

He then took a breath and opened up a bottle of wine. Everyone else stared at him in sympathy. Ghost bit his lower lip.

"I am very sorry…" Kamarov said while still looking at the ground, fighting back tears, even more ashamed of his nation's involvement with the tragedies happening around the world.

Price moved over to Kamarov.

"Then help us. Focus on the plan, Kamarov." he told him. "Has your team in Moscow retrieved the intel from the Kremlin? I need the intel from it."

Kamarov looked up and nodded.

"My comrade…Yuri, ex-Spetsnaz…he led an assault and has what you need."

"I've contacted Nikolai, he can get us out of Russia with a plane if we link up with Yuri." said Soap. "In fact, here he is."

 _"Price, are you there?_ " asked the familiar voice of Nikolai over the radio.

Price picked up.

"Nikolai. I'm here." he responded. "Good to here from you, mate."

Nikolai laughed.

" _You too, my friend. I'll meet you in Moscow. Good luck._ "

Nikolai went offline.

"Alright." said Price. "Get prepped. We're going to Moscow. I'll give you all time for a few hours to rest."

"We have a chopper to help you get there, but we might not have enough fuel to complete the trip in the air." said Kamarov.

Price simply nodded, not caring about the state of fuel.

"Good." said Price. "Now let's eradicate this bloody disease and hang Makarov from a tree."

* * *

 **That's the end of part one for now. Hope y'all enjoyed it.**


	5. Around Every End: Part Two

**Foreword: A few days ago, we learned of the passing of Jim French, who we all know as Bill. So, we've decided to start working on a chapter, mainly focusing on Bill, which will come later on in the story. And that chapter will be dedicated to Jim's memory.**

 **Moving forward, here's part two of Chapter 4.**

* * *

 _Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, Day 21, 7:06 AM_

"Warhammer, you are cleared for landing."

The plane finally touched down in the Air Force base. The passengers on board prepared to walk off.

Bill woke up his three teammates.

"Come on, people. Get up. We're here."

Louis sat up, rubbing his eyes. Francis grumbled and groaned in displeasure of being woken up.

"Colorado already? What time is it?" asked Zoey as she yawned and stretched her arms.

"It's only been around three or four hours." replied Bill.

"Okay. Let's not screw around." he continued. "We don't wanna end up like we did in Millhaven. So be polite."

Then, he pointed at Francis.

"Especially YOU, Francis. Unless you wanna end up being bashed in the face with a rifle again."

Francis rolled his eyes.

"Okay. Okay." he replied.

"Pack your equipment. Let's go!" Shepherd ordered as his men all formed lines and prepared to step out of the hatch as it opened.

* * *

As the four survivors were brought outside, the sun partially blinded them, and they covered their eyes for a few seconds. They were then brought to decontamination.

"Hehehe. That tickles." giggled Francis as he was being cleaned up in one of the tents.

Once decontamination was over, the survivors were given new clothes, which were Air Force flight suits.

As they were taken inside the bunker, Ramirez noticed Zoey with an anxious look.

"You're not gonna get dissected or caged like a lab rat if that's what you're thinking." he said.

Zoey looked at him and raised an eyebrow. Ramirez chuckled awkwardly.

"Sorry. Bad joke."

Bill, who was walking in front of them, looked back.

"The most we would do is blood tests and biopsies. This isn't a mad scientist lab like Millhaven." said Ramirez.

As the four were led to their room and given provisions by Dunn and Ramirez, Shepherd and Marshall took an elevator lift going down to the war room where the president was waiting for them.

* * *

Once they stepped out of the elevator and came into the war room, the President, who was highly observant, immediately turned towards them and walked over to them.

"Ah. General Shepherd, Colonel Marshall."

The two officers saluted him. And he saluted back.

"Glad to see you and your men made it out of Atlanta." the President continued. "With four HVIs I heard?"

"Affirmative. They're at the third level." said General Shepherd.

The President nodded.

"Good. Now please, take a seat. There is much to discuss."

Shepherd and Marshall took a seat along with other high-ranking politicians and officers. Images of devastated cities and a map of the United States with red markings were then presented on the large screen in front of them.

"With Atlanta falling to the infection, our last strongholds are New York in the Northeast, and New Orleans in the South." said SecDef.

"We need to pin the plague down quick. Most of DCT-One was overrun by the Infected before retreating back to New York." said Marshall.

"New Orleans has also been breached. I don't know how long we can hold it." said the President.

"Not for long, if we look at the amount of time it took for them to overrun Atlanta." Shepherd added.

"It went South, casualties approximately 950 military personnel and over tens of thousands of civilians. We did everything we could." said Marshall.

"I know you did, Colonel." said the President in a reassuring manner.

SecDef turned to Shepherd.

"General Shepherd, if anything can help us pin this plague down…it would be the intel that the SEALs and your task force retrieve from Russia." he said.

"It's now all on them." said the President as he placed his hands below his chin.

* * *

 _20 hours later…_

 _Moscow, Russia, 10 kilometers from extraction point, Day 22, 3:11 AM_

The SEALs and the 141, along with the Russian Resistance, were once again caught in a cat and mouse chase while they fought their way to the extraction point as the last remnants of the Russian military continued to hunt them down. The team had reached the inner city, where they engaged in a tense urban warfare situation against the Russians and the Infected. They took cover in a lobby of a building as they devised a plan to get to their destination.

"Get some Boomer Bile on that barricade!" ordered Captain Price.

Worm was the one to comply.

"Boomer Bile out!" he said as he threw the prototype grenade to a Russian defended barrier, splashing it with bile. With the Russians preoccupied, Price took this as an opportunity to run.

"Okay! Cut through the alley to the left!" he ordered.

Everyone immediately ran to the alley, only to be intercepted by several Infected who were there.

"Infected at 12 o'clock! Open fire!" yelled Zach.

The soldiers fired on the Infected in the alley, killing all of them. They then snuck past the Russians, who were dealing with the Infected. But then, two large tanks arrived at the street. The soldiers knew that was not a good sign.

"Shit! Two T-14 Armata tanks at 3 o'clock!" shouted Zach.

"Get down!" said Ghost.

Everyone immediately hid.

"Peasant, do you have anymore anti-tank weapons?" Worm asked one of the SEALs under his command.

"Negative! My detpacks are empty!" replied Peasant.

The two tanks finished off the Infected wave. But once they were done, they turned their attention to the soldiers.

"Shit! We're spotted! Take cover!" shouted Captain Price.

One of the tanks shot at and damaged the building. Fortunately, no one was hurt, as the soldiers were able to quickly dodge. But the other tank made its way to the other end.

"Bloody hell! We're cornered!" said Ghost.

In the nick of time, however, 105 shells descended on the tanks on direct impact, which destroyed them.

* * *

"YEAH!" shouted Royce defiantly.

A familiar Russian voice came over the radio.

"I see you need some help, my friend. Up here with a crew. I'll escort you with air support to the airport."

"Nice!" said Worm.

"It's bloody good to hear from you, Nikolai!" said Soap as he looked up to the sky and saw Nikolai's AC-130.

As they reached and cleared a Russian outpost, Ghost came with an idea to get to the extraction point much quicker.

"Sir, I think we can use the jeeps to get to the airport quicker!"

Price immediately agreed with the idea.

"Roger! Everyone get in the vehicles!" he ordered.

"You heard the man! Move!" said Worm.

Everyone got in the vehicles, and in a convoy, started making their way to the airport.

"Nikolai, we've captured enemy vehicles and are gonna head to the extraction point. Provide overwatch and air support from above." said Price to Nikolai.

"Da. The extraction point is 7 more clicks northeast." said Nikolai.

As Nikolai provided air cover, the soldiers continued on their way to the airport. The Russians chased after them in vehicles, but were fired upon by Nikolai and the soldiers who were firing their weapons from their vehicles.

"Come on, Rook! Step on it!" Price ordered Rook, the 141 operative driving, to go faster.

"Russians keep following close behind! Keep firing on them!" said Soap.

Roach reloaded the 50. Caliber machine gun and proceeded to fire on the approaching vehicles. However, one of the jeeps approached to the right of their vehicle and bumped the side.

"Hold on tight! I'm gonna ram it!" said Rook.

What he did was successful, and the other vehicle was toppled over as a result.

Nikolai saw something located 300 meters north of the team's position, and warned them.

"Price! There is a long gap. It's a broken bridge. You might have to use the ramp-like structure on the right side of the road." he advised Price.

"Roger that! All vehicles be ready!" said Price.

As the leading vehicle, which was being driven by Rook, made its way closer to the ramp, Rook prepared to make the risky stunt. He narrowed his eyes and took a deep breath.

With that, he successfully made the stunt and the other four vehicles behind him followed suit.

"Nice work, lad." said Price, as he gave a pat on the shoulder to Rook.

Worm suddenly pointed at something in front of them.

"There's the airport!" he said.

"Holy shit." said Zach.

The airport was none other than…

…Zakhaev International Airport.

* * *

As the team exited their vehicles, another team in the air traffic control tower signalled them with a flare.

Soap pointed at the tower.

"There! I have eyes on Yuri's team!"

The team was overjoyed when they were able to rendezvous with Yuri's team. They thought they had it now. However, they didn't know that the exhaustion would still continue.

* * *

"Nikolai. We've rendezvoused with Yuri's team." Price said to Nikolai. "Prepare to make a landing so we can finally get out of here!"

Nikolai chuckled.

"Let's get home, my friend."

Suddenly, he picked up a lock-on signal.

"Hold on! I'm being locked on!" he informed Price.

The C-130 released its angel countermeasures, but was then intercepted by a second missile.

"Blyad (Fuck)! Come on!"

The plane was hit and proceeded to go down, much to the team's horror.

"Nikolai! NO!" yelled Price.

As the plane descended quickly, the team ran to avoid getting hit by the crashing vehicle. The plane smashed on the ground, breaking apart into pieces. Once everything was done, the team stepped out and looked at the downed aircraft.

"Bloody hell! We need to help him!" said Soap.

As the team pulled out burning debris, frantically searching for Nikolai, or at least what was left of him, Peasant followed a trail of blood. It eventually led up to a badly injured man who was crawling on the ground.

"Argh!" Nikolai grunted.

"I found the pilot! He's over here!" Peasant yelled to the others.

The others rushed to him quickly and carefully picked up Nikolai in order to carry him.

"Get him out of the crash! Rush him inside the airport! Let's go!" said Worm.

As everyone ran to the airport in a hectic state, Nikolai lost consciousness from blood loss.

"He's out!" said Soap.

"We'll patch him up once we get somewhere safe!" said Price.

* * *

After a minute, everyone ran inside the airport and entered a saferoom on the second floor.

"Lay him on the table!" ordered Price. "Get the medkit and dextrose now! Yuri, put some pressure on that wound."

"Working on it!" said Yuri as he put his hands on the wound.

Worm turned to Zach.

"Zach, get me the XSTAT now."

Zach handed the XSTAT to Worm, who injected Nikolai with it while Price patched him up. While they were able to stabilize him, Nikolai still hadn't regained consciousness.

* * *

 _15 hours later…_

 _6:27 PM_

The team was left exhausted and demoralized. They decided to set up base at a more secure part of the airport. The SEAL teams secured the hallways near the tower. They also grabbed any supplies they found.

The whole airport looked like something out of a horror movie. Blood on the walls, guts spilled on the floor, body parts and other organs, and decomposed corpses lying around. It was a sight that would make you wanna get out of there immediately.

"This place is haunted." said Zach.

"This is where it all began." said Worm. "The massacre that took place right before the infection pissed off the Russians when they found the body of an American."

After the SEAL teams returned to the safe perimeter they set up, the team got some rest after a hard day.

However, Price was very suspicious about what had happened earlier. He didn't think it was the Russians who were responsible for the crash, but rather another faction. Something just wasn't right. He had a bad feeling lingering around in his stomach. He ordered Soap, Ghost, Roach and Royce to go with him and investigate the crash first thing in the morning.

* * *

 _Day 23, 2:00 AM_

The group of five walked out of the airport towards the crash site. Luckily for them, there were no Infected lurking around the premises.

Once they reached the crash site, Price noticed something by the wing of the aircraft. He walked towards it, flashlight on. He knelt down to get a closer inspection.

"Soap. Over here."

Soap approached him to see what he had found.

"What'd you find, old man?"

"Look at this."

Price and Soap examined the object.

"This is a fragment of the missile that brought down the plane. It's an American manufactured weapon. The clearance is no longer relevant, since we're trapped here in Russia with command not being able to extract us." said Price. "I will need to see the info contained in the hard drives."

"Bloody hell." muttered Soap. "Come on. Let's get back to the rest and see what Yuri and Worm have."

* * *

 _Safe room, Zakhaev International Airport, 4:30 AM_

As Price plugged in the hard drive to a military PC which he powered through solar source for days, he found rather shocking intel relating to the chain of command.

"Soap. Get over here."

Soap walked towards him.

"What?"

"Take a look." said Price.

Soap immediately stared at the intel with Price.

"Oh my God." he muttered as he looked at the photos. "That bastard."

Price stood up and turned to Soap.

"Soap, we have to contact Sandman ASAP. Shepherd cannot be trusted."

* * *

 **Thus ends Chapter 4. Happy New Year, everyone!**


	6. The World Needs You Now

_NORAD HQ, Day 24, 10:38 PM_

Although, General Shepherd and the military were making major progress in organizing a rally point, things seemed monotonous in the bunker. The four survivors, having been provided food and shelter, didn't know what would be next for them under military custody.

By this time, Louisiana had been evacuated and all civilians, carrier or not, had been sent to Navy boats.

Soon, another group of four would get themselves involved in the situation.

* * *

"I've reassigned the 6th Naval fleet. They just came back from evacuations in Louisiana. We believe Makarov is still hiding in Russia and he may possess a form of vaccine, antidote or a tool of prevention for the virus." General Shepherd told the president.

The President nodded.

"Very well. Tell them to prepare whatever immune civilians they have with them and send them here with the four that we have."

* * *

Meanwhile, in their quarters, the four survivors were discussing their current situation.

"I'm not so sure about this, man." said Louis, sounding unusually uncharacteristic of himself.

"There's a lot of things I hate, but I tell ya, Louis…free food and beds ain't one of 'em." said Francis as he lay down on his bed, eating what appeared to be canned meat.

Bill crossed his arms.

"We don't know what the General is after or who he's meeting with down there. I still feel that something ain't right about him."

"Remember what Annie told us on the plane?" Zoey piped up. "What if-"

Louis looked at her and interrupted.

"Nah. It can't be."

"I even heard the same thing from the guy assigned to us." Zoey continued.

"You mean Ramirez? If you heard it from him, he could be playing with you." said Louis.

Bill stood from his chair and walked over to lean on the wall.

"We are well-fed and rested. But do you really think they would let us out of this place without trying to shoot us?" he said.

The other three looked at him for a few seconds.

"Exactly. We still don't know what's gonna happen."

* * *

As all this was happening, Sandman took a seat in Delta's quarters and checked his military laptop. He saw that he had received a message from an old friend marked as "$", through a secure line. It could only be who he thought it was: Captain Price himself. Together, they began to communicate through text-like.

$: Sandman, do not trust that bastard.  
$ sent a photo  
G13: Can I receive confirmation on this?  
$: It's from the Kremlin itself. The intel has to be solid. Read the details regarding the spread of the outbreak. It will all make sense.

* * *

Up in the third level, four more immune civilians were brought into the survivors' quarters. A man in a white suit, a large African-American man, a talkative but friendly guy wearing a cap, and an African-American woman were escorted inside by Sandler, McCord and Ramirez.

Their names were Nick, Coach, Ellis and Rochelle.

"Get your fucking hands off me!" yelled Nick.

"Whoa! Calm down, slick." said Sandler.

Sandler and McCord proceeded to exit the room to report to Sergeant Foley. Ramirez handed bags of MRE to Zoey for her group and the newcomers.

"For the four of you plus the new guys." he said.

"Thanks." said Zoey with a smile.

Ramirez nodded and followed after the two who just left.

"Well, well, well…what was it?" Francis said to the newcomers. "Rescued you and put you here, tried to shoot 'em, or took a tranquilizer dart?"

Nick looked back at him, seething with rage. Francis stood up from his bed and proceeded to approach Nick.

"Now, now." said Coach. "Let's not fight here."

Nick and Francis ignored him.

"None of your goddamn business, grease monkey." Nick said to Francis through gritted teeth.

"Oh lookie here. Colonel Sanders thinks he's badass!" Francis taunted Nick.

Rochelle attempted to intervene.

"Nick-"

"Can it?" said Nick. "I told you all we can't trust anyone."

As he and Francis continued to argue, Bill broke the silence.

"HEY!"

The two arguing men stopped and stared at Bill.

"Cut it out! Both of you!"

He pointed at Nick.

"Especially you in the suit."

That worked. Francis and Nick shut up immediately and walked off to the opposite sides of the room.

Coach approached Bill.

"I'm sorry about Nick. We were sent here after they separated from other people after the Navy left Louisiana hours ago." he said.

"No need to apologize. I don't know what's going on either." Bill replied. "I have these three to look after and I'm not taking my chances with the military again."

They noticed Ellis and Zoey talking.

"You like Linkin Park?" Ellis asked Zoey.

"Soldier forever." replied the former college student.

"YES! Me too!" said Ellis.

They hi-fived each other. Coach and Bill couldn't help but scoff in amusement.

"At least they get along."

* * *

After doing what Price had instructed, Sandman immediately informed POTUS of Shepherd's true motives. He gathered his Delta team, consisting of Frost, Truck and Grinch in preparation to arrest Shepherd.

The Delta members stormed the war room, where they saw General Shepherd calmly standing in front of a screen. Frost, Grinch and Truck aimed their weapons at him as Sandman approached him with his Five-Seven drawn.

Shepherd put out his cigar and looked at Sandman smugly.

"What's the meaning of this, Sergeant?" he asked.

"We have found evidence of your involvement in the plague." Sandman replied.

"TREASON, GENERAL?!" yelled POTUS. "You spread a biological weapon around the world and killing millions of people just to PROVE A DAMN POINT ABOUT YOURSELF?!"

He gestured to the other soldiers.

"Take him away!"

But instead, the soldiers in the war room all pointed their weapons at Delta, who in turn pointed theirs back at them.

"Drop your weapons!"

"What the? What is this?" said Grinch.

One of the soldiers pointed a pistol at the back of the president's head, demanding Sandman for him and his team to drop their guns.

"Drop your weapons…NOW!"

Sandman looked around, desperately trying to find a way out of this.

"Just do it, Sergeant!" ordered the President. "That's an order."

Seeing no other choice, Sandman complied.

"Team. Drop your weapons." he ordered.

Delta Team dropped their weapons and were forced to kneel down. One-by-one, they were knocked out by the rogue soldiers, who bashed their rifles into the back of their heads.

As for Sandman, he was pistol-whipped by Shepherd with his magnum.

* * *

A few minutes later…

Sandman woke up groggy, but regained full consciousness as he realized that the President and SecDef were both injured during the struggle.

Colonel Marshall burst through the war room's doors with squadrons of Rangers flowing in from behind him.

"What the hell happened?!" he demanded to know.

Sandman slowly stood up and regained his composure.

"Shepherd and X-Ray have gone rogue!" he replied.

Marshall radioed all units.

"All units be advised! This is Colonel Marshall! General Shepherd and X-Ray team have gone rogue! Set up entrapment at Checkpoint 2!"

He then turned to the president, who was wincing in pain, and then to Dunn.

"Get the president to medical bay at level 8!"

"On it!" said Dunn.

Dunn immediately helped the president up. Marshall switched his attention to the radio as he picked up something from Corporal Annie.

"Colonel, he's taken the eight civilians as hostage!" she said.

"Just keep them from exiting Checkpoint 3! Stay where you are! We will flank them from behind! Hold on!" Marshall replied.

He turned to Hunter 2-1.

"Hunter 2-1 on me! C'mon! Let's go, Sergeant!" he said as he pulled Sandman's arm and prepared to move. Hunter 2-1, with the exception of Dunn, and the Delta Team immediately followed after him.

* * *

The group made their way to the ground floor, where many members of the military, whether they were rogue or not, were laying dead on the hallways and corridors in pools of blood, as well as a lot also splattered on the walls. They struggled to get to Checkpoint 2 as they engaged in a close-quarters gunfight with soldiers loyal to Shepherd.

"This is Checkpoint 2! We are pinned down! Multiple casualties!" said Annie.

"Hold on! We're on our way!" said Marshall.

"Ramirez! Get a flashbang in that room." Foley ordered the constantly ordered Private.

Ramirez complied and took cover beside the door with Dunn, Macey and Keating. The flashbang blew up and the three stormed in, taking out four rogue soldiers with two shots each.

Dunn approached one of the bodies, pulled out his M9, and fired six shots into the corpse.

"You fucking rats!" he yelled.

* * *

Meanwhile, on Checkpoint 2, the survivors were all taken captive by Shepherd as the soldiers blocking their way from the exit with a huge barricade with Humvees as cover struggled to fight them off.

"Keep firing!" Shepherd ordered his men.

The rogue soldiers fired their LMGs on the barricade and Annie and the team in the barricade were pinned down.

The rogue soldiers briefly stopped firing to reload and Annie quickly reacted.

"Okay! Now!" she ordered.

She and the squad of twenty-four then fired their M4 Carbines and M16A4s on the rogue soldiers in the entrance, killing a few of Shepherd's men.

"Watch your fire! They have civilian hostages!" said Annie.

It was already a bloody massacre and it could not get any worse until Shepherd ordered his team to open a case.

"Load the minigun! Tear that barricade apart!" he ordered.

A Lieutenant under his command, named Vinson, fired the minigun. The countless rounds penetrated through the Humvees, killing many of the soldiers guarding the post. They took cover, but to no avail. So, they fell back and shouted in panic as some of them were caught by the minigun fire and ended up being reduced to a bloody red mess.

"RUN! C'MON!" said Annie as three soldiers behind her were shot to death.

"YEAH! C'MON! C'MON!" Vinson shouted in joy.

In a blink of an eye, the team of twenty-four was now down to four. Fortunately, the minigun ran dry before it could cause any more devastating damage.

The remaining survivors took cover in the same plane they used to get out of Atlanta.

This bloody mess looked like a scene that came out of Terminator 2. Shepherd and his men noticed the four remaining soldiers.

"Get a grenade in there!" Shepherd ordered.

The grenade rolled in and Annie quickly took cover in the cockpit.

"GRENADE!" she yelled as the other three got caught and perished in the explosion.

"NOOO!"

Annie then proceeded to turn on the plane's weapon system and fired the Vulcan on Shepherd's team. They survivors took this opportunity and decided to fight back.

Francis overpowered a rogue soldier and grabbed his handgun from his holster, then shot him with it and then fired two more rounds into another enemy. Louis and Zoey broke free and made a run for it. Bill grabbed a rifle off a dead body and gestured for the other three to get to the plane. Unfortunately, the other four civilians were not able to escape from the struggle.

The ammo of the plane's Vulcan ran empty quickly, but the four were able to make it there.

"Annie! Boy, am I glad to see you!" Francis said.

He opened his arms, expecting a hug.

"Not now." replied Annie. "We have to keep them from escaping until backup arrives."

"Okay. I'll keep an eye on the entrance." said Louis.

"Zoey, go with me by the windows. Use the sniper rifle!" Bill commanded Zoey as he handed her an R700.

Zoey and Bill fired onto the positions of Shepherd and Vinson, but were unable to take them out. They were still pinned down and Annie radioed the Colonel one more time.

"Sir! Four of the HVIs are with me, but my squadron's K.I.A.!"

"We had a few incidents of friendly fire, but we're almost there!" said Colonel Marshall.

Suddenly, Hunter 2-1, accompanied by the Delta squad and Colonel Marshall, poured out of the entrance and chased after the traitors as they boarded a Sea Knight with the other four civilians captive. A majority of them stayed behind on the airfield to buy Shepherd some time. Marshall's team was then caught in a gun fight with them and couldn't advance.

Annie took notice and left the plane, only bringing her M9 as she ran to the chopper.

"Annie, wait!" yelled Francis as he attempted to run after her.

But Bill grabbed his arm.

"Stay here! We can cover her!" he said.

Just as the helicopter was about to take off, Annie fired two rounds at the pilot, killing him instantly. The co-pilot stepped out and pulled out a pistol, but was quickly shot down by Annie, who ran out of ammo. She entered through the back of the chopper and pistol-whipped Vinson, incapacitating him. She did not see Shepherd, but proceeded to untie Nick.

"What the hell is going on?!" shouted Nick as he was freed from his restraints.

"Shut up and just get to that plane!" Annie responded.

"Just do what she says, Nick!" said Coach. "Untie Ellis first!"

Ellis was then freed and he and Nick scrambled off the chopper. Annie began to untie Coach's bonds, but before she could successfully do so…

BANG!

Annie briefly stopped, before falling to the ground bleeding after a bullet pierced through from the back of her chest, much to the horror of Coach and Rochelle.

"NO!" shouted Coach.

As it turned out, Shepherd had suddenly appeared behind Annie.

Vinson then got up and dragged Annie, before throwing her out of the chopper.

"Vinson, take the co-pilot seat." said General Shepherd as he piloted the Sea Knight himself.

Hunter 2-1 eventually eliminated the rogue soldiers by the airfield and made a run for the chopper that was now in the air.

Truck pointed his M4 at it.

"Hold your fire!" said Sandman. "We can't risk it."

Marshall's eyes widened as he saw Annie lying and bleeding from afar.

"SHIT!" he yelled.

Everyone immediately ran over to Annie. Marshall checked her pulse.

"She's alive, but she needs serious medical attention. Get her in the medical station, now!" he ordered.

Bill, Louis, Francis and Zoey, along with Nick and Ellis, followed after the medics as Annie was rushed to med bay.

"Oh my God…" muttered Zoey.

"Shit! Annie!" shouted Francis.

* * *

 _Medical Bay, Level Two, 11:15 PM_

Annie was placed on a stretcher, which got covered in blood in mere seconds. The four civilians and a few military medics quickly tended to her. Ellis and Nick were outside the room, still wondering what was going on.

"I can't stop the bleeding! Apply pressure here!" said Dunn.

"It's still bleeding!" said Ramirez.

Dunn shook Annie's head and kept her eyes open.

"C'mon. Stay with me!" he ordered.

"She's losing a lot of blood!" said Louis, stating the obvious.

"No shit, Sherlock!" Dunn replied. "Ramirez! Get me the XSTAT!"

Ramirez handed Dunn the XSTAT, but at that moment, he realized that the wound was unsealable, since the bullet exited right in front after penetrating her back.

"DAMN IT!" yelled Dunn.

Annie looked up at the ceiling and struggled to speak as she coughed up blood.

"I can't…I can't…feel…I can't feel anything….J…J…Jeff?"

"Not now. Just rest." Dunn told her.

He wrapped a bandage with his bloodstained combat gloves around the wound.

"It's not working!" said Ramirez.

Dunn just looked at Annie in the eyes.

"Just stay with me, okay?! We're gonna get you through this!" he told her.

He held her hand. However, something hit him…

…there was no more pulse.

He looked up and faced Ramirez, who was still tending to Annie's wound. And Ramirez shook his head, indicating that Annie didn't survive.

Ramirez let go of the wound and banged his fist on the table, frustrated by not being able to save Annie. Dunn sadly shut her eyes as tears fell from Zoey's eyes and Louis stared in shock.

"I can't believe it. She's…she's gone…" said Louis, breathless.

Francis let out a deep breath and leaned against the wall, sliding his back down and sat on the floor, somehow affected by this.

Bill looked at the others, caught in deep thought. He remembered black ops in Vietnam, mirroring it on how a commanding officer would blatantly kill one of their subordinates.

Ramirez, with the help of Dunn, miserably placed Annie's body in a body bag.

Francis took one last sorrowful look at Annie's face before Ramirez zipped the bag closed.

* * *

 _Day 25, 12:54 AM, Hunter 2-1's Quarters_

The Rangers, looking visibly shaken up by this twisted turn of events, were checked up on by Sergeant Foley.

"I'm gonna kill every damn Ruskie on the planet." said Dunn. "Fucking Shepherd."

"World has gone to hell. We have families out there. I'll rather go out and just ditch, man." said McCord.

Foley went to the middle of the room and placed a single foot on a stool.

"I know today will not end any sooner and I know not all of your families here made it to the Louisiana vessels. But make your life worth something for the betterment of this world. I know it's hard, considering the fact that we are living in what anyone would call an apocalypse. But if we choose to be like those bandits out there and forget what we stand for…then we might as well join the ranks of the Infected. Let's get to work."

"Hooah."

* * *

 _Civilian Quarters_

As the six survivors attempted to get some rest, Bill addressed the other five about what was next for them.

"I've seen where this is going. I've never trusted the General. I just found out he was the cause of all this. Now we know who to trust. Just stick close to their Sergeant, Foley."

"They took Coach and Rochelle." said Nick. "The military is already shooting each other. Like anything they do will make a difference."

Bill crossed his arms.

"Go ahead and take your chances at Georgia again."

Nick was unable to respond.

"Boy, I sure as hell hope we rescue them." Ellis said sadly.

"One of the soldiers told me we are. Don't worry, Ellis. We'll get them back." said Zoey.

"That same guy, Ramirez?" said Louis.

He scoffed, and whispered under his breath.

"I would have actually believed Annie more."

* * *

 _1:18 AM, The War Room_

With the United States Military's best general going rogue, the surviving officers all gathered up in the war room in a fashionable order to discuss what was next.

"Over 60 plus casualties, we lost two of the HVIs and both the president and SecDef are in the ICU. Good news is, the latter two I just mentioned are recovering slowly but surely." said Overlord.

"So who's in charge now?" asked Colonel Marshall.

Overlord looked at him briefly.

"Sir…as the highest-ranking officer here…I believe it's you. You are being sworn in, Colonel. We are all under your direct order, sir."

The remnants of the US Military Command structure of over 300 officers all faced Colonel Marshall. The first row of officers stood up and saluted him, followed by second, third, and all the way back.

Seeing the responsibility he now carried, Marshall put on a beret and looked around the vast number of officers now under his command. He then addressed all 300 of them.

"Okay, we have held back New York. We take back the capital, we hold it and retake the Pentagon and the White House! The 6th Naval Fleet and the 2nd Marines are on their way there! We are putting up a massive strike force for a recapture! Then, we take the fight to the Russians and Shepherd! We rescue those two HVIs and we put an end to this hell-sent plague. Now, I can't promise you all a ride home…but if you're with me…the world needs you now. So are you?!"

"SIR! YES SIR!" everyone else responded.

"Let's get ready!"


	7. 28 Days Later

_28 days later…_

It had been over four weeks since Shepherd's sinister motives had been exposed. The military had left the NORAD bunker with the civilians in fear that Shepherd could possibly strike back. Marshall and his large group recaptured Fort Meade in Maryland on Day 26.

On the current day, Marshall rallied a strike force for a large scale mission.

* * *

 _Day 28, 5:01 PM, Fort Meade_

Marshall was giving a speech to the group.

"Listen up! Recon units from the 2nd Marines have confirmed our opposition. They will be our eyes and ears for the operation. Delta teams will halo drop to the Department of Commerce building and make their way to Whiskey Hotel and defend that position. The Rangers will go for the Pentagon. The parachutes will be too visible. We're gonna have to wing suit our way in. Once we take both, the Marines will lure the Infected and the Air Force will be signaled for a bombing run. The National Guard will be pulled in for security. We brought a few civilians to the operation. Let them take point as they have a superior knowledge of the Infected."

"Yes, sir!"

* * *

 _Captain Jane's Quarters_

Zoey, Louis, Francis and Ellis were talking with Bill after finding out that he and Nick, the latter of whom was already on an Osprey with most of the Rangers, were going to be sent to Washington to assist the military.

"Do you really have to go out there to D.C.?" Zoey asked Bill, worried.

"I'm afraid so. If we want our stay here." Bill replied sadly.

Louis tried to assure Zoey that everything would be alright.

"Don't worry, Zoey. There will be hundreds of troops there with him. Man, I'm sure that-"

"They were ready to make us lab rats back at Millhaven!" Zoey yelled as she interrupted Louis, startling him.

There was a few moments of awkward silence.

"I'd rather be the one out there and have all the fun. I hate Army bases." said Francis.

"My buddy Keith once told me that everything's always gonna be okay no matter how bad it gets. Always a light at the end of that tunnel, man." Ellis piped up.

Zoey looked at Louis.

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay. No need to apologize." Louis reassured her.

Suddenly, two soldiers entered the room, in the forms of Ramirez and Foley.

"Overbeck, are you ready?" Foley asked Bill.

Bill nodded.

"I'm good to go."

Foley looked around the room and noticed a few things. He picked up a picture of Captain Jane.

"Jane was part of the Maryland National Guard. He was stationed right here when this place was overrun. Then, he was sent to back us up when we got you people at the bridge. We got off on the wrong foot. I'm sorry for all that violence. Millhaven was run by Major Everly. He was part of the rogue group Shepherd assembled, who were of course…taking measures out of control. We never wanted to hurt you. The President wanted all five of you, plus the other three, alive. I know we aren't the most trustworthy entity in all this, but if we're gonna return to our old way of life…I need your cooperation."

The five survivors looked at him.

Louis waved his hand.

"Water under the bridge." he said.

Zoey briefly hugged Bill, before letting go moments later. Francis looked at Bill face-to-face.

"You watch your back, old man."

"Take care of them, Francis. Promise me." Bill said to his teammate.

Said teammate nodded.

Bill turned around and he and Foley exited through the door. Before Ramirez could follow, Zoey called out.

"James!"

Ramirez stopped abruptly and turned around to face Zoey, who walked towards him.

"Please bring him back…please." she begged.

Ramirez put a hand on her shoulder and gave a reassuring nod, before following after his two older companions.

The four survivors in the room sadly watched Bill and the soldiers leave the building and continued to do so from the window.

Outside, before Bill headed inside the plane, Foley directed his attention to the other soldiers on board the aircraft.

"You will be with these guys."

Then, he took out something from his holster and showed it to Bill.

"Here. I got this from Jane's stuff. It's a Taurus Raging Judge revolver, also known as the Executioner. It fires .410 bore shotgun shells." Foley said to Bill as he handed him the weapon.

Bill examined the revolver closely, before swinging the cylinder back in and putting the gun in his holster, officially claiming the weapon as his own.

He, Ramirez and Delta Team then proceeded to enter the plane.

Zoey hugged Ellis in sadness and anxiousness as she tried not to watch Bill leave. The young Southerner comforted her.

Francis watched several helicopters lift off, and also as the plane's engines turned on and it slowly started making its way to the runway.

As the survivors watched the plane take off moments later, Francis closed his eyes.

"God damn it. Please make it back, old man…"

* * *

 _Day 28, 11:34 PM, 26,000 feet above Washington D.C._

Inside the very same plane that took them from Atlanta to Colorado and all the way to D.C., the Delta Force prepared for the massive assault. The hatch opened and the Delta team prepared their wingsuits and MOPP gear. There were a total of over twenty-five men, including Bill.

"Okay." said Sandman. "Land on the roof of the target building and rappel down to the street! Suppressed weapons only and keep the gas masks on. Thermal optics are ineffective. These things are as cold as the walking corpses they are. Switch to night vision."

"Hang on. Opening back hatch. Lowering knots." said the pilot.

"10 seconds!" said Truck.

"Okay! Go! Go! Go!" said Sandman.

The Delta team flew out of the hatch. However, Sandman and Bill remained.

"Okay, stick with me. Hope that three-hour flight suit preparation works here. Ballsy move not switching out the old Vietnam uniform for a standard issue." said Sandman as he fixed Bill's equipment.

"You ready?" he asked the elder veteran.

"Ready when you are, soldier."

They then jumped out.

* * *

The Delta team and Bill flew down and decreased altitude extremely quick, since they used the strong winds to their advantage to fly to the landing zone.

It wasn't long before Sandman finally spotted said landing zone.

"There it is! On the roof!"

Everyone diverted to the building and managed to successfully land.

"Everyone good?" asked Sandman.

"Yeah." replied Grinch.

"Okay. Check your weapons and ammo." said Sandman.

He handed Bill a suppressed M16A2 and night vision optics.

"Overbeck, take these."

The team went to the ledge and rappelled down to an alley. They took cover and hid in the alley, while Grinch looked outside at the Infected on the streets. Bill also took a peek. The two then started whispering to each other.

"I count twelve." said Grinch.

He suddenly spotted a tall Infected with a very long tongue.

"What is that thing?"

"We call them Smokers." replied Bill. "They can grab you with that damn tongue a hundred feet away. They let out a mean-smelling gas when they die."

"A hundred feet? What the hell…" Grinch said once more.

He cocked and aimed his suppressed MK14 EBR. He nodded at Bill, who did the same back at him, giving him approval to fire. Grinch then signaled the rest of the team.

"Okay. Team, get ready. Ten plus hostiles on the street. Mark your targets. On your go, Grinch." said Sandman.

Grinch proceeded to fire a single shot into the Smoker's head, quickly dispatching it and causing smoke to flow everywhere. The other eleven Common Infected rushed towards the team as they flowed out of the alley and out onto the street. All of them fired on the Infected with their suppressed weapons with most of their shots landing in the head, quickly dispatching the group of Infected.

"Nice shooting, Overbeck." said Truck. "I see you haven't let retirement wear you down."

"Well, because there's finally an enemy to fight…" replied Bill.

"Cut the chatter." said Sandman. "Grizzly, you guys cover our six. When we reach the office, go to the other side of Whiskey Hotel and clear it out."

The team stealthily made their way to the White House lawn, avoiding any confrontation with the Infected.

"Okay. Go through the West Wing. Keep a low profile. Turn off the laser." ordered Sandman.

The team quietly breached a door by the West Wing and entered the White House.

"Overlord, be advised, we have infiltrated Whiskey Hotel. Preparing for clearing operation." said Sandman.

"Copy that, Metal 0-1." replied Overlord. "But be advised, we cannot infiltrate the bait until both objectives have been secured."

"Roger." replied Sandman. "Team, let's make our way to the Oval Office. Keep it tight. Frost and Overbeck, take point. Everybody, split into three man teams and clear each sector. Frost, Overbeck and I will take the office."

As they reached the hallway, the three stayed by the wall. Although, Bill and Frost took a peek.

"What do you see?" asked Sandman.

A Boomer was standing around, not moving an inch, gurgling.

"I see one." said Frost. "That's one fat bastard."

He aimed his ACR, but Bill stopped him.

"Don't shoot. If it gets shot, the thing will blow up and it'll be like catnip to those bastards." he told Frost as he pressed down the latter's ACR.

"Cover me."

As Frost aimed his ACR, Bill slowly approached the Boomer from behind and bashed it twice with the stock of his M16A2, pinning it to the wall. Then, he pulled out a combat knife and stabbed the obese Infected in the head, preventing it from vomiting or exploding bile.

"Nice job. The office is just right behind this door. We can't use the breaching charges. I'll open it and be prepared to shoot." said Sandman.

He opened the door, and Bill and Frost fired on the Infected politicians in suits. They brought down six Infected with shots to the head.

"Oval Office is clear." said Sandman. "All teams, give me a sitrep."

Through the radio:  
Anvil Team: _"This is Grizzly. Rooftop clear."  
_ Viking Team: _"West Wing secure."_  
Granite Team: _"We have East locked down."_  
Onyx Team: _"Copy. Ground and second floors secure.."_

"Copy that." replied Sandman.

Truck looked outside a window. And what he saw shocked him.

On the White House lawn was a horde of Infected.

"Damn. That's a lot of 'em out there." he said. "It could be well over sixty. The Marines better set up that trap good."

"No shit." replied Grinch.

Sandman radioed Overlord.

"Overlord, Whiskey Hotel is secure. Setting up defensive positions. Awaiting further instructions."

"Roger that, Metal 0-1." replied Overlord. "You are to hold that position until the second strike force captures the Pentagon and the Marines prepare the trap."

"Roger, Metal 0-1 out."

Sandman closed his eyes and said silently.

"It's all on you now, Foley."

* * *

 _Day 29, 12:05 AM, the Pentagon_

The Rangers, including Nick, had made it inside the Pentagon. With majority of the power gone, almost all rooms were pitch black, filled with darkness. Only the glowing eyes of the Infected could be seen. Luckily, the team and Nick had brought NVGs.

"Hunter 2-1, what's your status on the objective?" asked Overlord.

"Overlord, we are passing through herds in the Army sector. Navy sector is completely overrun." Foley whispered to the radio as he looked at the unaware Infected while crouching behind cover.

"Copy Hunter 2-1. Keep going. Your objective is in the Defense Intelligence Agency sector."

"Roger that. Hunter 2-1 out."

Foley reloaded his suppressed SCAR-H and stealthily advanced with his team and Nick. They proceeded to gather around a door that would lead to their objective.

"All other routes are blocked by the Infected." said Foley. "Ramirez, Dunn, help me get this open."

Suddenly, as Dunn placed his ear on the door, he heard crying. The team then argued, albeit whispering, as to not be too loud.

"Sarge, are you hearing this?" asked Dunn.

"It's a girl." replied the Sergeant. "We have to help."

Before the door could be opened, Nick stopped them.

"Don't. It's a fucking Witch."

"A what?" asked McCord. "Hermione Granger? If so, we gotta help her!"

Nick rolled his eyes disdainfully.

"No, you idiot. A Witch! It doesn't have magic powers like you think!"

He sighed.

"Look. Just don't approach her. It's a trap. It's gonna tear you apart. We have to leave her here. She is NOT alive. Think about it. What're the odds of some random girl ending up in the freaking Pentagon?"

"What if you were wrong?" Foley butted in. "And there's no other way around but this doorway."

Seeing no other choice as he had no authority over the soldiers, Nick sighed and gave in.

"Fine. But have someone with a shotgun with you, and if she's not alive…put a shell in her fucking head." he said.

"Okay." said Foley.

"Ramirez, Dunn and Macey with me. Get a shotgun ready and be prepared to go loud."

He opened the door and slowly approached the Witch, reaching his hand out to her with a pistol in the other. Macey prepared his M1014.

"Hey. It's alright. We are military personnel and we can get you out of here. We're not here to hurt you." Foley said, not knowing what the Witch actually was.

Suddenly, the Witch got up and screamed, sending Foley running.

"FUCK!" yelled Dunn as he fired at the Witch.

"Macey! Shoot now!" ordered Foley.

Macey fired his M1014 four times into the Witch's head, killing her before she could do any harm.

"Damn…" said Foley, staring at the Witch's corpse.

"Holy hell." said Dunn.

"Believe me now?" Nick asked with a hint of sarcasm.

All of a sudden, flashlights dropped in the Pentagon revealed running humanoid shadows, and the group heard the cry of the horde. The group on the outside spotted them.

"Oh shit…" said Sandler.

"That's a lot!" said Morgan.

"Fuck!" said McCord.

Keating ran to the others.

"They're coming! Hundreds of them!" he informed the group.

"Everybody run to the Defense Intelligence Agency sector! Let's go!" said Foley.

"Ah hell!" said Nick.

As the Rangers and Nick started running, the horde closely caught up with them.

"Which way?! Which way to the DIA?!" yelled Wade.

"Left!" replied Foley.

As the horde came into close proximity, the group started a run and gun.

"Die, you motherfuckers!" shouted Wells as he sprayed his SCAR on the horde as he walked backwards.

Golden grabbed him.

"C'mon! There's too many!"

He turned and started running.

The group made their way to their objective and entered the large assembly room, which was now a saferoom with a red metal door.

"Close the door!" ordered Foley.

The Rangers shut the door and quickly barricaded it, blocking the Infected out.

"I did not come this far to die now…" said Nick.

"No shit, Tony Montana." replied Dunn.

As the group caught their breath, Foley grabbed a radio.

"Overlord, we have made it to the objective, but we have been compromised. We need backup now. Do you copy, over?"

"Copy that, Hunter 2-1. The National Guard QRF is on their way. ETA seven minutes. Now, revive the defense network and hold your ground until they get there." replied Overlord.

Foley operated the military PCs and networks to regain military communications. This revived the defense network and the remnants of military structure, as well as the chain of command now had a chance to recognize. A lot of military chatter was heard as Foley, Dunn, Ramirez and McCord stared at the big screens in awe, while the rest set up barricades and defensive positions.

Military chatter:  
 _"This is Safe-Zone Echo! Does anyone copy?"_  
 _"This is Crystal Peak! I am reading something from the Pentagon! I repeat…FROM THE PENTAGON!"_

A familiar voice came in. And said voice chuckled.

"This is Brigadier General Marshall, Fort Meade. I take this as mission accomplished, Hunter 2-1?"

Foley picked up the mike.

"This is Sergeant Foley, 1st Battalion 75th Ranger Regiment, the Pentagon. Objective secured, General."

"I read you, Hunter. Standby. The Guard is on their way." said Marshall.

However, it wasn't over, as the muffled noise of the Infected bashing the red metal door was heard. The Rangers pointed their weapons at it, preparing for a breach. Gunfire and shouting was heard outside and the noise abruptly stopped, much to everyone's confusion.

Foley picked something up on his handheld radio.

"Hunter 2-1, this is Echo 3. We are right outside. Area is secure. You can come out now."

Everyone looked at each other.

"Holy shit. I'm actually not gonna die…for now." said Nick.

"Echo 3? Move the barricade away and open it." muttered Foley as he started wondering.

Ramirez and Dunn did as he ordered, and three of the twelve National Guard soldiers entered as white smoke entered the room, with their Sergeant in the middle, armed with an M16A4.

Foley approached him.

"Sergeant Davis, 1st Platoon, Maryland National Guard." said the new commander of Echo 3 as he saluted Foley in greeting.

"You knew…Captain Jane?" asked Foley.

Davis nodded.

"Man with the beard? Yeah. He was my commanding officer. He led my squad during the struggle in Baltimore. I was injured but didn't "qualify" for medical discharge, so I sat out the capture mission in Georgia. I heard he, Case and Trent didn't make it out of Atlanta."

"I know. I was there. We should get this place sorted out. The Marines will set up the entrapment any minute now and it'll get loud and messy." said Foley.

"C'mon. We brought some heavy weapons. They're outside. We brought the power back and got the generators running." said Davis.

Echo 3, Hunter 2-1 and Nick then fortified the Defense Intelligence Agency sector of the Pentagon while hundreds of National Guard members cleared the rest of the sectors.

* * *

 _Day 29, 12:42 AM, D.C. War Memorial_

The War Memorial was centered, an open area and convenient. It was the perfect place to bait all the Infected. There, fifty plus Marines and four Blackhawks armed with M134 miniguns for its door gunners and various missiles as well as two landed MH-6 Little Birds were positioned on the memorial as they prepared to bait all the Infected in D.C. They set up sandbags, barbed wire, machine gun nests and a howitzer in p-reparation for the massive hordes. Two .50 Caliber machine guns and two teams of Marines were now positioned on top of each of the two pillared structures of the memorial. Among those fifty plus Marines is Warthog Squad, a squadron whose most prominent members were Captain Weston, an officer in his late twenties who was quite young but very capable, Sergeant Zach Parker, a seasoned operative who had been fighting Ultranationalists since the Zakhaev days in 2011 and now found himself fighting a new and much worse threat which was the Infected and the Green Flu, Sergeant Baker, a gritty Marine who wanted to burn Russia to the ground.

Through the radio, the ever-familiar voice of Overlord came in.

"Warthog, you are clear to engage."

Weston nodded.

"Fire the flare up!"

The Marines fired a cluster of flares, attracting the Infected, which then formed into a massive horde running towards them from all sides after they heard the loud howling.

"Whiskey Deltas approaching fast! 100 meters!" said Baker.

The land mines exploded, sending Infected guts and blood all over the ground.

"Open fire!" ordered Weston.

The Marines unloaded everything they had against the Infected in full auto. The ground the machine gun nests occupied was increasingly filled with hundreds of used cartridges.

"Sir! There's a ton of them out here!" Baker said in panic as he reloaded his M249.

"Shut up and keep 'em pinned down!" ordered Weston.

Baker cocked his M249 and aimed it at the horde of thousands.

"Roger that…..SUPRESSING FIRE!"

He and four other Marines fired on the Infected, slaughtering many but to no avail as the army of the dead moved in closer on them.

"They're getting to our position!" said Parker.

"Dagger team! I need fire support on the western and north side of the memorial! Over a hundred tangos on each side! 20 meters!" said Weston.

The Blackhawk then did as instructed and flew from the western to northern end, with its gunner mowing down Infected with the minigun.

"Warthog, standby. We are turning around for another pass. We can't mow this much down." said Dagger 2-1.

The Marines held their ground, but the Infected were getting close fast. The grass surrounding the memorial was now tainted and mostly red from Infected blood, guts and corpses. Weston then picked up something on his radio.

The voice of Sandman came in.

"Warthog, this is Team Metal. We are dug in at the White House and we are seeing an extremely large amount of hostiles moving south, which is headed for your position. It seems the entire D.C. population headed there as planned, but we cannot make a stand…I REPEAT, WE CANNOT MAKE A STAND!"

"I read you, Metal." replied Weston. "I'll call in some air support marking New York Ave, The Ellipse and all the way to the monument!"

He then proceeded to switch frequencies.

"Overlord, requesting air support at the area northeast of the Memorial. Do you copy over?"

"Roger that, Warthog. AC-130 gunship callsign Warhammer is ready to assist."

The stand was doing fine until…

"This is Team 1! Our .50 Caliber is dry!" said a Marine.

"Sir, we are running out of ammunition!" said Parker as he dropped his M4 and pulled out his M9.

The Infected had now reached the perimeter of the memorial and tore down the barricades and barbed wire, and poured in.

"They made it past! We need to get out of here!" shouted Baker.

"Up the pillars! Go! Go! Go!" said Weston.

He made his way up from the makeshift ladder and helped Parker up. A Marine followed and climbed up but was grabbed on the foot by an Infected.

"Agh! Help!"

"C'mon! Grab my hand! Hold on, Marine!" said Weston as he offered his hand. "Parker, Baker…cover us!"

The Marine grabbed Weston's hand and pulled out his pistol with the other hand and killed the Infected grabbing him. But then almost 70 meters away, a long tongue grabbed him.

"Fuck!" he said as he dropped his pistol by accident onto the horde below as he was about to be completely pulled by the long tongue wrapped around him.

BANG!

A smoking barrel was seen when Parker shot the Smoker with his M40 sniper rifle.

"Gotcha, ya son of a bitch!" he blurted.

Weston then pulled the dangling Marine up.

"Dagger team! We need a ride outta here!"

The two Blackhawks then hovered beside the roofs of the two pillared structures and another one made a big risk and went for the ground while the Little Birds made a quick three-second touch down, then left with the Marines on board.

"C'mon! Hurry! There's thousands of them!" said Dagger 2-1.

"Everyone, let's go! Jump for it!" said Weston.

The other choppers with Marines proceeded to fly out and only Dagger 2-1 and Warthog remained. The Marines with Weston then made the risky jump to the chopper and luckily, all of them got on board. Dagger 2-1 ascended and proceeded to leave the scene. Weston then looked down at the massive horde of countless Infected that seemed to have amassed to over one thousand from the Blackhawk's door.

"Head for the White House!" Weston ordered.

Dagger 2-1 headed on for the White House.

The rest of the Blackhawks and Little Birds flew to the Pentagon as the World War II memorial was carpet bombed, eliminating a majority of the massive army of the dead. Warthog sadly watched the bombing run as their Blackhawk headed towards the opposite direction of the rest.

* * *

 _Day 29, 1:19 AM, the White House_

Dagger 2-1 hovered above the lawn as Weston kept an eye out for the Delta teams. He saw a Delta Force member on the roof waving his arms like a lunatic, signaling them. Dagger 2-1 landed on the lawn and eight Delta Force operatives and Bill exited through the West Wing and went to the chopper. Weston stepped out with Baker and Parker. Sandman, Bill and Grizzly fought through a few Infected to get to them. Gunfire was heard in the background as the other Delta Force members eliminated stragglers and the remaining Infected. Humvees then arrived at the White House and Marines entered the building's perimeter.

"Go! Go! Go!"

"Clear out the stragglers!"

"Friendlies on the roof!"

Team Metal and Anvil went to Dagger 2-1 and Warthog.

"Glad to see you in one piece, Metal." said Weston. "You guys can ride with us. Strike teams will rendezvous at the Pentagon."

Sandman nodded.

"Okay. Let's get outta here. The Marines will take care of the rest."

He boarded the Blackhawk and sat down.

"Good work, boys. This is a big win."

The rest entered the chopper and it lifted off for the Pentagon.

"Here's to hoping we actually hold D.C." said Bill.

"It'll buy us enough time to sort this mess out." said Sandman. "You know, you could step out of retirement, Overbeck. We're a bit short on manpower. Either dead, infected, or a deserter."

Bill was silent for a moment.

"I'll have to think about this." he said.

Sandman nodded.

"Speak to Marshall when you make up your mind."

* * *

 _Day 29, 10:32 PM, The Pentagon, Defense Intelligence Agency sector, briefing room_

Inside the briefing room, Marshall, who received a promotion to Brigadier General, discussed with the President, who was now fully recovered from injury, and Overlord regarding their next move.

"Our nation and military is to put quite bluntly…just a mere shadow of what we used to be. But I think it's possible. " said POTUS.

"We've gathered enough resources for this operation." said Marshall.

"Vladimir Makarov could still be in Russia. And Shepherd was headed for Europe according to intel." said Overlord.

"Then let's find the both of them, put a rope around their necks and end this goddamn plague once and for all." Marshall said once more.

The President readily nodded.

"Operation Goalpost is a go."

* * *

 **And there you have it. Next chapter will take place in Europe. Hamburg to be specific.**


	8. Let The Storm Carry Us Home

_Day 31, 6:45 PM, North Atlantic Ocean, USS Mount Whitney_

One month and a day following the outbreak, the US Military had made its comeback and was now ready for a full scale liberation of Europe by helping the few small pockets of authority left. It was now or never as they would be finding a cure, hunting down and eliminating Shepherd and Makarov, and rescue Coach and Rochelle, as well as the Vice President. This trip was the calm before the storm as everyone scattered around the carrier doing their own thing.

* * *

 _Carrier Flight Deck_

Foley went up the stairs up to the flight deck after noticing Dunn wasn't in the Rangers' sleeping quarters. He eventually caught sight of Dunn staring at the horizon and the sun setting with his arms on top of a railing.

"Corporal?" Foley asked as he joined Dunn.

Dunn turned his head and faced Foley.

"I don't have a good feeling about this, Sarge. This is a deathwish."

Foley sighed.

"Listen to me carefully, Dunn. What other choice do we have? I have a family on one of the Louisiana vessels and a lot of us do too. It's the one reason none of us in our unit has deserted. With Shepherd and Makarov out there, they are still at risk. If we do nothing, they're gonna push homefront again. We keep them safe even if that means our lives. It's what we all signed up for even before the outbreak."

After hearing this, Dunn nodded at him and stayed silent. He began to stare at the sunset again.

"I'll leave you to your thoughts, Dunn. Be back in our quarters in an hour." said Foley.

He walked away and headed back down the stairs.

* * *

Meanwhile, Zoey was sitting on the ledge of a balcony on the lower deck, sadly watching the sun set. Ellis walked to the balcony, noticing Zoey, and sat down as well, before turning to face her. He noticed the solemn expression on her face, and he knew something was up.

"You don't look so happy. Do you wanna talk?" he asked.

Zoey looked at him and sighed.

"Bill re-enlisted. I just…I can't keep my head off about it."

"Ah…"

Ellis nodded, understanding how she felt. In order to cheer her up, he decided to tell a short story regarding his rather infamous friend.

"My buddy Keith once tried to join up. He got kicked out of boot camp for accidentally blowing up an officer's quarters during ballistics training. Hell, he tried to cover it up by saying it was caused by termite shit. Told me that he joined up to keep me and his country safe. Now, I'm no expert, but judging from how things turned out for these Army dudes…he'll be okay."

Zoey giggled, smiled, and continued to face Ellis.

"Y'know, sunsets always remind me that there's always a better day waiting tomorrow. Not much for sap, but it helps." said Ellis.

Zoey stared at the sunset again.

"Thanks, Ellis."

Francis opened the bulkhead ship door and saw the two. He stood next to said duo who were still sitting on the ledge.

"What's up, lovebirds? So…what do you think of all this sea stuff we got into? I would've preferred to stay in Fort Meade. I hate boats. And ships."

"Well, Bill's still not talking to me about it." Zoey replied.

Francis let out a grumble, and knelt down to talk.

"Well, they couldn't leave a retiree alone who's now well over 70. Not even sure if that's legal. Unless of course the damn Feds got something to do with it. Just goes to show how desperate the Army has become."

He looked at Ellis.

"You guys get back to the bunks soon before they shoot us with more darts. I'll be taking a big nap."

* * *

 _Survivors' sleeping quarters_

"Bill ain't talking about it, man."

"Well, what the hell, Louis? What did you expect? The two have been on kinda shitty terms since we left Annie, Jeff and the Doc at the train station." said Francis.

The door opened, and Bill entered. He began packing his things. He now wore a new standard issue plate carrier with mag pouches, combat gloves, and a new holster wrapped around his leg for the Raging Judge that once belonged to Captain Jane. All of this was worn over his old Vietnam uniform. Francis and Louis looked at him and Bill tried not to look back.

"I have my reasons for this. You wouldn't probably understand, but I'm doing this for all of you." said Bill.

"Fuck that, old man!" said Francis. "I'm supposed to be the one out there! Think about Zoey and Louis!"

Bill faced down, not saying a word, and left for the briefing room. Francis rubbed his head in frustration.

"Damn it, Bill!"

* * *

 _Carrier Island/Control Tower_

As Marshall went through the maps and radars, he tried to gather information of the horde they were up against in Europe. He was given a few files by Overlord.

"We've gotten the reports from the D.C. Liberation as well as the observations of Lieutenant Mora from Millhaven. The files are arranged in order and describe each type." said Overlord.

Marshall skimmed through the files and saw their designations written inside the folders. He read out loud.

"Hmmm…Hunter: Can jump up to 50 meters in distance, prefers lone prey and will often pounce on its target. Stick together and do not isolate."

He pulled out another file and saw pictures of another Special Infected.

"The Smoker…how hideous. Mutated and strengthened tongue can grab targets from 100 meters away. Prefers to stay in range. We can have snipers pick these bastards off. Watch the rooftops."

He opened yet another file and proceeded to read it out loud once again.

"Ah. Here's one I've seen for myself. I lost a good man in Atlanta from this thing. Grabbed him and smashed him to the ground until his spinal cord was no longer a straight line. Codename: Charger. Apparently, only one hand is mutated. Somebody didn't "work out" the other hand."

He pulled out another file, turned on a projector and watched a video feed from an early attempt of the military to contain the outbreak.

The video feed showed a squad of soldiers being crushed to death by a thrown Humvee by something titanic and roaring loudly.

Marshall began talking again.

"And of course…who can forget this living nightmare. We've expanded tons of ammunition for these things, but they never go down. They can take on RPG fire and are even resistant to frags. Standard ballistics can kill it, but only in high amount. In other words…almost ineffective. Can damage our Abrams tanks too. And they are rather ironically called…Tanks. I need artillery fire and air support focused on these damned things."

He gathered the files together and turned to Overlord.

"Okay. Give me the rest later. For now, I need you to check up on the Raptor teams at the hangar bay. Get everyone briefed about these Special Infected and what their mutations can do."

Overlord nodded.

"Right away, sir."

He then left for the hangar bay.

Moments later, a Navy Lieutenant Commander approached Marshall and saluted him. Marshall saluted back.

"Lieutenant Commander MacKenzie. Current Officer-in-charge of the 6th fleet." said the newcomer.

"A Lieutenant Commander taking over the duties of a Fleet Admiral? Isn't that a bit too demanding for your current rank and bit out of your paycheck?" Marshall curiously asked.

"Well sir, frankly I wouldn't care about the money anymore at this point and we haven't been able to find or get in contact with any Admiral. We had an O-7, but he was infected two weeks ago and had to be put down. His Operations office is now yours." said MacKenzie.

She looked at Marshall closely in the eye.

"Sir, I'm under your direct command. Not to put the pressure but you are all that remains of a proper military structure. You are directly under the President. Apparently, the Armed Forces' highest-ranking member we are still in contact with. You carry the fate of the country and even possibly the rest of the world."

"If that's so. If we save it, I'm not the only one who deserves the credit. All of us do. I'm only one man. I can't do this alone, MacKenzie." Marshall replied to her.

He approached the window and stared at the setting sun. MacKenzie followed.

"Hell of a midlife crisis…" Marshall sarcastically remarked.

"If I may ask, sir…how old are you?" asked MacKenzie.

"45. And you?"

"31, General."

"Well…let's get to work, Lieutenant Commander."

* * *

 _Day 32, 10:00 AM (15 hours later), briefing room_

In the briefing room, Marshall and the various officers discussed the liberation plan as they prepared to meet the small pockets of authority left in Europe. Things were hectic and stressful. The calm before the storm was now over.

"The United Kingdom is under threat. We received contact of only three safe-zones left. The damn Russians used the virus as a biological weapon. We don't know where they could strike next. We need to hit them hard before they could launch an attack." Marshall addressed everyone.

MacKenzie picked up something from her comms and she quickly gave the military laptop to Overlord, who then connected it to the big screen.

"Sir, you may wanna see this."

A reporter was heard talking.

"At 6:22 Greenwich Mean Time, chemical attacks were triggered all across Europe. Multiple safe-zones have been overrun. It can only be speculated that the biological weapons contained the infamous Green Flu virus."

The video feed then switched to that of Sgt. Wallcroft of the SAS, whose unit attempted to prevent the release of the Green Flu in London but failed.

"I repeat: Downing Street is within the contamination radius, over!" he said.

The video feed zoomed out of London and various cities were seen on the screen.

"Oh my God…" said Overlord.

The list of cities:  
London: Contaminated  
Paris: Contaminated  
Brussels: Overrun  
Madrid: Contaminated  
Bern: Contaminated  
Rome: Contaminated  
Budapest: Contaminated  
Prague: Contaminated  
Berlin: Contaminated  
Copenhagen: Contaminated  
Warsaw: Overrun

The feed then marked all logistics assets in those said cities offline. After that, it zoomed into France and showed footage of the chemical attack on a military base in Paris with a Commander named Morel sending a distress footage.

"This is GIGN HQ! My men are either dead or dying! (*coughs*) I've been exposed!"

The footage showed him turning into an Infected. Once his transformation was complete, he stood up, began growling, and took off to hunt for food.

Overlord figured he had seen enough. He closed the feed and sighed.

"MacKenzie, has any intelligence or logistics sector able to identify the perpetrators?"

MacKenzie checked her military laptop.

"Got it! Intel relayed by MI6 and MI5 confirmed the presence of Makarov's inner circle in England. German Intelligence has spotted Hershel Von Shepherd III in Hamburg. This was also the Vice President's last known location during the peace talks right before the Green Flu outbreak."

Marshall shook his head.

"Damn it. New plan." he muttered as things went out of plan.

He placed his hands on the table, looking visibly irritated at their current situation.

"Lieutenant Commander, do you have any info regarding the invasion time of the Russian Government?" he asked MacKenzie.

The Lieutenant Commander shook her head sadly.

"Negative, General."

Suddenly, a distress signal was received by them from Ramstein Air Force Base. Overlord quickly picked up as the other officers looked in uncertainty.

Ramstein AFB: (*through satellite radio*) _This is Ramstein! We're under attack!_

"Roger – we are aware of the gas attack and are sending recon units your way." said Overlord.

Ramstein AFB: (*radio*) _Not just the gas and the Infected! We're under attack by Russian Ground Forces!_

"Say again, Ramstein. What Russian Forces?"

Ramstein AFB: (*radio*) _The entire Russian army! The whole invasion force! Remnants of the Russian government! Request immediate assistance!_

"Roger. Standby, Ramstein." said Overlord.

He turned to the rest.

"This was no act of terrorism or upheaval. The attacks were intended to cripple our defenses and pave the way for an outbreak and even an invasion. We need to hit them now with everything we've got.""

"Sir, we've lost contact with the delegation in Hamburg." MacKenzie informed Marshall.

"Get ready for an assault on the beach. I need Marine Armored units stationed at the front. Rangers will pull in for security and QRF while Delta spearheads the rescue." said Marshall.

Overlord quickly turned to his radio.

"Metal 0-1, this is Overlord actual. You are being re-routed for Hamburg. We've got a principle level hostage rescue."

"Who is it?" asked Sandman.

"Two American civilian HVIs and the Vice President. Bring Sergeant Overbeck with you."

* * *

 _Carrier Island/Control Tower_

Marshall called for Foley, Sandman and Weston for a quick briefing regarding the assault on the beach.

"The intel MacKenzie received from MI6 confirms that Ramstein Air Force Base is gone. Wiped out by a full scale Russian attack. This is mostly either Shepherd or Makarov's turf now. If there's anything left of our forces in Europe, they're out there, blind as bats."

"Appreciate the gravity of the situation, General." said Foley. "All the more reason to be careful. Putting him in front lines…not a lot of our men are gonna-"

"They don't see the full picture." Marshall interrupted. "We're under extreme circumstances. Sergeant Overbeck's going with you. I'll assign him to Sandman's team."

"Understood." Sandman, Foley and Weston said in unison.

"All of us have a long way to go, but you are all leadership material. Sandman, Foley, Weston. You might not make it. Many of your friends won't. But this is it. This is the shot we've got."

* * *

 _Marshall's Quarters/Admiral's Operations Office_

Marshall looked at the view of Hamburg from his window and got slightly worried. Someone knocked and appeared behind him. He turned around to see MacKenzie. He picked up her dead Admiral's Navy cross.

"For the indomitable Admiral." he said.

He placed it on MacKenzie's hand.

"Long live the Admiral." she said.

Marshall sighed.

"Everyone higher than my current rank is either dead or missing."

He looked at Hamburg at a distance again and placed his hand on his forehead.

"Many of these brave men and women won't make it. But if we don't strike, we will all suffer the consequences at home front.

"I think you should give them a message, sir." MacKenzie suggested.

"I'll do just that, Lieutenant Commander."

MacKenzie approached and stood next to him.

"General, you can do this. You're the best we've got."

"High praise coming from you, Lieutenant." Marshall acknowledged.

"It's the truth, sir. I'll give you a moment, General." said MacKenzie.

She exited the room and Marshall sat down on a chair.

* * *

 _Flight Deck, 12:38 PM, river in Hamburg, Germany_

The military was now preparing for the assault. Jets staggered, ready to fly off the deck. Rangers entered the Ospreys and Pave Lows. Various troops boarded Blackhawks and so did Delta.

"Strap on the seat belts and get ready!" said Foley.

"Frost and Overbeck, on me! Truck and Grinch, get ready for an extraction when we call you up once we secure the HVIs." ordered Sandman.

Meanwhile, below deck, the Marines were getting ready to exit the ramp leading to the sea. They got in the LCACs with tanks. Inside one of the tanks, a crew who helped the Rangers and Delta get out of Atlanta prepared for the assault.

"Okay. Weapons systems online." said a crew member named Carter.

"Guess we're good." said Rhino 2's Gunner.

"Let's do this." said the driver.

Carter made a fist and the other two bumped it.

"OORAH!" they all exclaimed in unison.

As the Marines got in the LCACs, Warthog squad boarded a zodiac boat.

"Let's go, Marines! Let's go!" ordered Weston. "We're taking point, so we'll arrive at shore earlier than everyone else. Get ready and get to the right flank of the beach!"

Suddenly, a PA speaker was heard both on and below deck. Everyone on the ship heard it. Francis was woken from his nap in the process. Sandman and Foley, who were on deck, paused and listened, and so did Weston who was below deck. Not to mention Bill as well, who was walking to one of the Blackhawks. The entire strike team listened carefully.

"Attention all hands. Standby for General Marshall." said MacKenzie through the speaker.

Then, Marshall's voice came in.

"Warriors on the Whitney. I know we're all tired. All of us have suffered. Lost friends…loved ones. We will ensure they didn't die in vain. The Russians have halted Infected intervention, but not for long. We may possibly be the only ship left, but we will not go down without a fight. We will stream west and strike before they can take over Europe and create a passage through the river and pave the way for us and our foreign allies to liberate it from the Russians and the Infected. Strike with speed and courage. Let the storm carry us home."

Marshall's message cut deep into many of the men and women on board, and they gained a renewed motivation to fight for the families and everything they've ever known and cared about.

* * *

 **MacKenzie is an original character and belongs to us.**

 **Next chapter, Operation: Goalpost, coming soon.**


	9. Goalpost

_1:01 PM, Hamburg, Germany_

Delta Force and US Army Rangers were being sent to Hamburg on Blackhawks, V-22 Ospreys and Pave Lows while US Marines and Marine crew tanks were being sent on US Navy LCACs. They were a strike force consisting of over 90 military personnel. They took massive fire from the beach fortifications and Russian anti-air weapons, flak and artillery.

"This is Dagger 2-1. We're one minute out." said a Blackhawk pilot.

"Copy that, 2-1." replied Overlord.

Suddenly, Dagger 2-1's alarm sounded and a missile hit the Blackhawk beside them in the tail rotor.

"This is Dagger 3-2! We're hit! We're hit!" said the pilot of the crashing chopper.

"Dagger 3-2 is hit! He's going down!" said Dagger 2-1.

"Agh! Stay with it!" cried Dagger 3-2's pilot.

Dagger 3-2 spun out of control and hit the sea floor and went under. Regardless, the rest of the vehicles fearlessly charged to the beach. Meanwhile, Warthog squad maintained a clear visual on the beach from the LCACs with long range binoculars.

"We're at the perimeter near the infantry from the flight! Standby for relay." said Weston.

Raptors from the carrier then quickly bombarded the beach to support the strike force.

(*radio*)  
 _"Raptor 2, rollin' in ETA 30 seconds."_  
 _"Roger. Raptor 4 inbound."_  
 _"Raptor 2-6, troops are on the deck."_  
 _"Going into holding pattern."_

As the vehicles got closer, Weston's eyes widened as he spotted something large.

"Infantry here. We see some tanks still approaching, starting at the LZ, picking up large gear signatures." he said.

The LCACs then radioed to each other. One of them responded to Weston.

"Copy that. Saunder 3-3 moving."

"This is Saunder 3-2. Miser One is inbound."

"Eagle Six Fox Three, stand back." said Miser One.

"Roger. Adjust the gateways for running." replied Saunder 3-2.

The LCACs reached the shore and began to unload.

"Copy. We're clear and hot." said Saunder 3-3.

"Saunder 3-1, approaching staging area."

The LCACs dropped off the M1A1 Abrams tanks to support the troops. After the tanks were deployed, they reinflated their airbags and retreated back to the carrier fleet kilometers away.

A flight of V-22 Ospreys and MH-53 Pave Lows flew in. However, one of the Ospreys got hit in the right engine with anti-air fire and crashed into the sea. Regardless, the other Ospreys and Pave Lows still continued to charge forward, one of them containing Foley's team.

"C'mon! C'mon! Almost there!" Dunn said in panic as he held onto his seat.

Meanwhile, the Delta Force in the Blackhawks cocked their rifles. The choppers all landed at the beach and Rangers poured out of the Ospreys and Pave Lows, while Bill and the Delta Force jumped out of the Blackhawks.

"This doesn't look too good!" shouted Bill.

"Dagger 2-1, dropped, deployed and going into holding pattern!" said Dagger 2-1.

Sandman addressed everyone.

"The convoy never made it to the extraction point when the outbreak hit and the two HVIs are here. Let's find it and get these guys home!"

* * *

The beach was filled with craters, fire and smoke, as well as seawater mixed with blood. A death toll of over 20 military personnel didn't even reach the beach as their transport was shot down. Delta, Rangers and the Marines then attempted to push forward from the beach, but a lot of them were quickly slaughtered by the machine gun fire. As they pushed forward with many casualties, two Apaches moved in to support the troops. Meanwhile, the M1A1 Abrams tanks of Rhino company advanced with the troops.

"Rhino 1-1, we're rolling out." said Rhino 1.

Sandman, who was taking cover from the massive machine gun fire, saw something big approaching.

"Rhino 1, you've got a T-90 on your left side!"

Another tank moved in to support Rhino 1. It was the same tank that escorted the group during the battle of Atlanta. The soldiers also moved with them to support as well.

"Rhino 2 moving up."

Rhino 1 fired its main gun on the T-90. The T-90 was hit and attempted to fire back, but was blown up when Rhino 2 fired a second shot. Another Abrams tank was able to move forward and the team moved up.

"This is Rhino 3. We're moving."

Rhino 2's gunner saw a Russian attack helicopter approaching in high speed, and appeared to be out in front of them between the beach and the city, attempting to stop them.

"Hind! Hind!" shouted Rhino 2's gunner.

Rhino 2 fired a TOW missile and destroyed the Hind. Delta, Rangers, Marines and Bill moved up the beach towards the city.

"Move with the tanks! Keep going!" ordered Sandman.

The charge was already looking up as the machine gun fire has lessened from the Russians and the military was now given a fighting chance. However, the beach was then hammered by mortar fire. Three of the Abrams tanks were destroyed by it before they could join Rhino 1,2 and 3, much to the horror of the soldiers.

"Rhino 4, Rhino 5 and Rhino 6 are down! I repeat! Rhino 4, 5 and 6 are down!" yelled Weston.

As more of them were torn apart by machine gun fire, they were struck by another round of mortar fire. As a reaction, they ran forward into the machine gun fire as the beach was completely open with almost no cover at all but the huge rocks.

"Mortars!" said McCord.

"Shit, man! We're getting pinned down with mortars!" shouted Sandler.

"Keep moving! Use whatever cover you can find!" Sandman told them.

While running forward, Macey spotted the rocks.

"Take cover behind the rocks!" he said aloud.

Delta and the Rangers along with Bill got to the rocks, but were pinned down bad and were marked by Russian artillery.

"Don't stop! Get off this beach!" said Sandman.

"Get off the beach, now!" Foley ordered.

"Don't slow down!" said Sandman once more.

"Hey, just get to the wall! That's where the rally point is!" said Golden.

Everyone made a run for it. But unfortunately, as he was doing so, Golden was taken down by a clean shot right through the head.

"Shit! Golden!" cried Dunn as he saw his fellow Ranger go down.

He stood in shock for a few seconds, until Bill grabbed him and had him face him.

"C'mon! We'll end up like him if we stay! Let's go!" Bill said as he urged Dunn to keep running, who did so.

Delta and Rangers moved up to a brick wall by the edge of the city. The tanks moved up through the middle and the Marines moved up with them.

"Rhino 1 deploying smoke."

Rhino 1 popped smoke as they said they would.

"Move! Move!" ordered Sandman.

The tanks moved up with Marines. Delta and Rangers followed.

"We're gonna need you boys to sweep the forward area. Make sure we're good to move up." said Rhino 1.

"Copy. We'll clear you a path." Sandman replied.

Enemy Russian forces appeared out of the smoke and engaged in a bloody gunfight with the Americans, with many dying on both sides.

"Five tangos behind the crates!" said Weston.

"Roger that! Frag out!" shouted Parker.

Parker threw a grenade and two of the Russian soldiers were taken out and blown to bits.

"Eat that, you Commie shit!" yelled Baker defiantly.

Two soldiers were then blown away by an RPG.

"Fuck! Woodlock and Hudson are KIA!" shouted McCord.

"Ramirez! Flank the left side! Use the brick wall as cover!" Foley once again ordered the Private.

"GO! I'll lay down covering fire!" said Bill.

He stuck out of cover and sprayed at the enemies with his M16A2. Ramirez, McCord, Dunn and Sandler ran and shot their way to the Russians' left flank. The four made it and unleashed lead on them. One of the Russian soldiers survived and clutched his gunshot wound. He attempted to surrender and raised his other hand in the air, only for Dunn to pull out his Desert Eagle and shot the wounded soldier in the leg, and waited a few seconds before shooting him in the chest twice, making him suffer a slow death.

"Now bleed out, you son of a bitch!" Dunn told the mortally wounded enemy.

Ramirez saw this and looked at Dunn for a while. But he ignored the incident and kept firing as the situation was still stressful and tense. He signaled Foley, who was taking cover with everyone else at the brick wall 50 meters away.

"The gun emplacement is down! Let's go! Move up!" said Foley.

They moved up to the road at the end of the beach.

"You're good, Rhino 1! We'll take the right flank!" said Sandman.

They began to move to the right to get around and allow the tanks to move up. Rhino 1 moved up.

"Going right! Stick to the right flank!" said Sandman.

As they moved up to the wall at the edge of the city, rockets bombarded the area.

"Incoming!" yelled Carter.

The third tank absorbed artillery fire and was destroyed. An Apache rushed in and attempted to give air support, but was quickly shot down. Another hung back over the beach and retreated, but was unfortunately shot down as well.

"The fuckers got Rhino 3! Rhino 3 is down!" said Baker.

"Our air support is down! I repeat, our air support is down! Requesting immediate reinforcements of aerial assets!" said Weston.

"Roger that, Warthog. We are sending in two more Apaches. Callsigns Helix 8-1 and Helix 8-2." replied Overlord.

"Move! Move! shouted Sandman as the strike team was shelled and took even more casualties.

Rhino 2 aimed at one of the T-90s on the road, and started loading ammo.

"Arming! Armed!"

Rhino 2 began searching the target.

"Acquiring target! Fire!"

The tank fired.

The T-90 was hit and exploded on impact with the SABOT.

Two more T-90s appeared in front of them. Rhino 1 moved in with Rhino 2 to assist.

"Got two more T-90s! Left side!" Carter directed.

"Alright. Stand clear. We're gonna get some rounds in that direction." said Rhino 1.

"Copy that, Rhino 1. We're right behind you." said Rhino 2.

"Move! Move!" Sandman ordered.

* * *

The group moved into the city and engaged the Russian forces. The large strike force was now cut down to half from the casualties on the beach alone. Delta/Rangers and Bill took out incoming infantry, while Rhino with the assistance of the Marines shot at the enemy T-90s. Another Apache approached behind the team shooting with its nose cannon. They pushed forward for about 150 meters before turning left at the corner of the street. After pushing forward about another 50 meters, the tanks stopped at a small barricade.

"What's the hold up?" Sandman asked Carter, while he himself stood next to the tank.

Carter pointed at a building and faced Sandman as he began explaining something to him.

"It's not like Atlanta where we only had to blow up the entrance for you guys. The only way through is in through that parking garage and out the other side! We're gonna have to take it slow. Not sure if it can handle the wei-"

BANG!

Blood and brain matter splattered on the tank and on Sandman. A hole had been blown through Carter's head, instantly killing him. The others were quick to react.

"Shit!" Bill yelled out.

"Sniper!" Sandman yelled as he crouched back into cover.

"Carter's hit! He's hit!" shouted Rhino 2's gunner in panic.

The tank quickly looked for the sniper.

"Where are the targets?" asked Rhino 2.

"Top floor of the building in front of you! Hit it now!" ordered Sandman.

Rhino 2 fired a round at the front building, killing the sniper. Sandman briefly looked at the minigun Carter was using earlier that was mounted on the tank. Realization came to him: Someone needed to operate said minigun.

Thinking quickly, he turned to Bill.

"Overbeck, get up on that minigun!"

Bill, without hesitation, climbed up the tank's side railing and manned the minigun. As the tank moved over the barricade, Bill sprayed at incoming Russian infantry, mercilessly slaughtering them.

"That's it, old man! Keep firing! Tear those motherfuckers apart!" yelled Baker.

Bill heard the sound of rotor blades and looked up. Two Russian attack helicopters incoming.

"Hind! Hind!" he alerted the others.

"Back it up! Now!" said Rhino 1.

The tanks moved in reverse. Bill engaged the helicopters with the minigun. He destroyed one of them after laying down continuous fire with said minigun.

"Trophy system online!" said Rhino 2's gunner.

The last helicopter then fired rockets at the tank.

"Holy shit! Watch out!" Bill warned Rhino 2.

"Get down!"

Bill barely ducked into the tank when a rocket shell exploded in front of him. Shell-shocked, Bill recovered from the blast after a brief moment of being dazed. One crewman was loading a shell. Another driving the tank. The crewman in charge of loading the shells operated the main gun quickly with a look of vengeance on his face.

"This is for Carter, you son of a bitch!" shouted Rhino 2's gunner.

The main gun fired and blew the last helicopter to bits. The first tank then radioed them.

"Everyone okay? Talk to me, 2-2!" said Rhino 1.

"We're good!" Rhino 2 replied.

"Alright! Let's roll!"

Bill climbed back out and manned the minigun. Large groups of Russian infantry and a T-90 appeared ahead.

"Got more inbound! Twelve o'clock!" said Rhino 1.

"Another T-90 is pulling up in front!" Sandman alerted the others.

The tanks moved up and Bill covered them with the minigun. With the combined firepower of the Marines, Delta Force, Rangers, the tanks and Bill with the minigun, the Russians were forced to retreat and run for it as over several of their squadrons guarding the front were gunned down by US forces. Helix 8-1 and Helix 8-2 finally arrived on the scene. Rhino 2 observed where the Russians were retreating and it, believe it or not, was the same building Carter had pointed out just before being killed.

"They're falling back to the garage." said Rhino 2.

"Yeah. They're scared shitless." Rhino 1 replied with a chuckle.

"Typical Ruskies…" Baker said with contempt.

"Okay. Delta on me! Foley, your team's with us! Weston, you and the rest of the Marines cover our six!" said Sandman.

Helix 8-1 fired missiles into the garage. A few Russians ran outside trying to escape, but Bill mowed them all down with the minigun, turning them into a bloody red mess of guts and blood. The tanks then reached the intersection and entered the parking garage.

"Let's move in." said Rhino 1. "They ran further into the garage."

"Alright. Let's get this show on the road!" Rhino 2 exclaimed.

"Just move fast. Don't let 'em swarm you." said Rhino 1.

* * *

As they moved further into the interior of the garage, they were ambushed by Russian soldiers taking cover behind the cars and engaged in a close quarters gunfight. Fortunately for the US forces, the odds were now in their favor as they brought a tank inside a close quarters battle. Rhino 1 took another route and flanked the them while Bill sprayed the minigun mounted on Rhino 2 at them. Even mocking them in the process. Some of the cars exploded as he unleashed countless rounds at the enemies.

"C'mon! 'Nam put up more of a fight than all of you!" Bill yelled as he taunted the enemies.

Rhino 2 briefly stopped moving and saw a security office.

"Hold on!"

Rhino 2 drove right through the security office, much to the shock of a group of Russian soldiers, which Rhino 2 ran over while Bill fired on them. They circled around the floor of the garage to rejoin Rhino 1.

"Right there! Right there!" said Rhino 2.

They came up to a tunnel, but it wasn't big enough to allow both tanks through. So, they had to move in a single line. The Rangers and Delta then stick next to the tanks.

"Saw another group headed through here." said Rhino 1.

"After you, 2-1." said Rhino 2.

Rhino 1 moved in first and Rhino 2 followed. As they came to the ramps, a truck appeared on the right and Bill engaged, pouring lead into the truck until it blew up. As the tanks moved up, Rhino 1 noticed something.

The floor beneath was cracking.

"Whoa! Whoa! Wait!" said Rhino 1.

"Back it up! Back it up!" said Rhino 2.

All of a sudden, the floor broke beneath Rhino 2.

"Oh shit!" they cried.

"Awww, horseshit!" said Bill, unprepared for this.

Rhino 2 fell through three floors of the garage.

When they landed, cars from the floors above fell down around the tank. Bill looked up and saw a car tip over. He quickly dropped down inside the tank just as the car hit the top of it, and was stunned in the process.

"Overbeck!" cried Sandman.

* * *

Bill looked around inside the tank. The Marine crew was shell-shocked, but otherwise alright. They picked up something on the radio, but the rest of the Abrams tank's systems were disabled and they were unable to respond.

"2-2, you alright?! 2-2, come in!" said Rhino 1.

"You okay? You alright, man?" Rhino 2's gunner asked the driver, who nodded.

The gunner then turned to Bill.

"You, old man?"

Bill nodded reassuringly.

"I'm okay, son."

The gunner took out an M16A4 and pulled the charging handle.

"I got this from Atlanta. Thought it might come in handy for shit like this. Let's do this." he said.

Bill, the gunner and the driver climbed out of the wrecked tank. They looked said vehicle for a moment, shocked by the insane, yet impressive, stunt they lived through.

"Jesus H. Christ…" Bill muttered.

"Come on, man. Let's get out of there. Systems are dead. That shit was crazy, man…" said the gunner.

"You could say that again." the driver replied in agreement.

At that same moment, Sandman and Frost dropped down to check on them. They, along with the driver, gunner and Bill were now separated from everyone else.

"You guys okay?" Sandman asked.

"Yeah. We're good." replied the gunner.

"Can you shoot?"

"Yeah. I can hold my own."

Sandman nodded and handed Bill his M16A2.

"You dropped this earlier. You're gonna need it now." he told the elder soldier.

The driver pulled out his M9 Beretta from his holster and cocked it.

"Alright. Basics, fellas. Find cover, return fire. Let us know if you need any help. Now we move fast, so keep your heads up. Let's go." said Sandman.

As they moved out, they encountered a Russian squadron of over ten soldiers and they began to engage in a tense firefight. They were now outnumbered, outgunned and no longer had a tank or a minigun to back them up.

"Contact!" yelled the gunner.

"Take cover!" Bill instructed.

Some of the Russians attempted to flank them through the left, but this was quickly seen by Bill.

"They're trying to flank us to the left!" he warned the others.

He and Frost quickly turned their attention to the flanking soldiers and opened fire on them. It did not take much as most of their shots landed on the head of each target. The rest of the Russian squad sprayed on their position.

"We're pinned down!" Bill yelled as he reloaded his M16A2.

Sandman, the gunner and the driver, who were all on the right side reacted quickly.

"Go! We'll cover you!" said the gunner.

As the gunner provided suppressing fire with his M16A4, Sandman jumped out of cover and threw a grenade.

"Frag out!" he shouted.

The grenade exploded and killed all the Russian soldiers, except for one who was attempting to run away and get to the exit of the parking lot. However, the driver took aim with his M9 and shot the retreating unarmed soldier in the back. The latter coughed out blood and fell to his knees. The driver then proceeded to shoot him in the head, finally killing him as his corpse fell flat on the ground and started bleeding.

"Only good target is a dead one. Let's get back to the others." said the driver.

As all of them headed towards the parking lot exit, Bill stopped for a moment while looking at the man the driver killed. He was too familiar with these things and began to have memories of the war crimes he got away with back in Vietnam. After a few seconds, he caught up with the others. Overlord then contacted Sandman through the radio.

"Metal 0-1, ISR has spotted a convoy of black SUV VIP vehicles believed to have been used by the Vice President and stolen by Shepherd's private military company to transport the two HVIs half a click from your position. Get there fast and secure a perimeter around that site."

"Copy. We're on our way." Sandman replied.

They moved up the ramp and out of the garage and rejoined the rest. The entire scene was just absolutely chaotic. Bill thought the war against the Green Flu was already a major war in itself. He didn't think he'd be fighting in what could be considered a Third World War. As the team engaged tensely against the Russian military, they faced the heaviest opposition they had since the outbreak began. A V-22 Osprey was seen getting chased by a Russian Havoc. They came under fire from a T-90, along with large amounts of Russian infantry.

"Tank!" yelled Rhino 2's gunner.

"We are pinned down! Get behind something solid!" said Foley.

"Taking fire! Taking fire! Hostiles approaching!" shouted Dunn.

"Take cover!" ordered Sandman.

They engaged the Russians on the streets, with both sides not backing down. The T-90 aimed at the team and prepared to fire.

"Rhino 1, where the hell are you?!" said Rhino 2's gunner.

* * *

Suddenly and just in the nick of time, Rhino 1 crashed out from a brick building on the right. Rhino 1 and the T-90 turned to each other and got into a face off, but Rhino 1 was able to get the shot first and the T-90 exploded on impact with the SABOT.

"Threat neutralized. We're moving up." said Rhino 1.

"Yeah! That's what I'm talking about!" Baker exclaimed.

They pushed on through the street as they engaged the Russians. Suddenly, they fell back and retreated, much to the relief of the US forces, who decided to keep hitting them.

"Yeah! That's right! Keep on running!" said Baker. "Parker, pick 'em off with sniper fire!"

"Tag the runners!" ordered Weston.

"They're retreating! Keep hitting 'em! Ramirez! Switch to the M203!" Foley ordered Ramirez once more.

They continued to fire on the retreating Russians until they let out their last resort. A biological agent was released through the air and infected a lot of military personnel on the strike team. They began to panic and got caught up in confusion.

The whole mission went FUBAR.

* * *

"Incoming!" yelled Rhino 2's gunner.

"Get inside! Go! Go!" ordered Sandman.

"That's fucking green gas! Everyone masks on! NOW!" ordered Parker.

"Go! Get out of the contamination area!" Foley directed.

It was too late as most of them had already inhaled the gas or were exposed. In mere seconds, they started to turn. The remaining uninfected soldiers struggled to get inside a building as the green gas fogged the area and decreased visibility. Rhino 1 attempted to cover them.

"Get inside! We'll buy you some time! Go!" said Rhino 1.

Bill and Sandman made it to the entrance, thanks to the help of Rhino 1 as they took down their infected former allies.

"Over here!" Bill yelled, as to get the attention of the recently turned.

Infected US Army soldiers rushed towards them and Bill opened fire with his M16A2. Sandman pulled out his Five-Seven and helped the older man execute their former comrades.

Rhino 1's machine gun mowed down the Infected. They got close to Hunter 2-1, Rhino 2's crew and Warthog squad to cover them.

"Get inside! Go!" ordered Rhino 1.

"We're not leaving you, Rhino 1!" said Rhino 2's gunner.

Suddenly, the Rhino 2 driver who was left behind after getting infected started to get headaches and transformed into something unrecognizable and monstrous.

"ARGH! ROOOOOOOOOAAR!"

He turned into what the team hoped they didn't have to encounter: a Tank. It came out of the smoke and furiously ran towards Rhino 1.

"Shit! Engage! Engage!" said Rhino 1 in panic.

"NOOO!" yelled the gunner of Rhino 2.

The Tank jumped on Rhino 1 and ripped out the main gun before smashing it to pieces. Rhino 1's last radio transmission being their screams of pain. The crew did not survive. Helix 8-1 and Helix 8-2 attempted to engage the former Marine driver, but it lifted the Abrams and threw it at Helix 8-2, knocking the Apache out of the sky.

"Shit! Watch out!" yelled Helix 8-1.

Bill grabbed the gunner.

"Come on! Let's go! We can't fight it!" he told him.

* * *

They rushed inside the office building with the rest. They cleared out the Infected inside and advanced towards the end of the building to regroup.

"Head count before we get out there. Frost, Overbeck and I. Who else?" said Sandman.

"Just us three in Warthog." Weston responded as he pointed at his Marines: Baker and Parker.

Foley was the next to reply.

"Hunter 2-1, all eagles in."

Sandman looked down on the ground for a moment, thinking of how they would adapt to the situation with both Infected and the Russian military involved. The team of over 90 military personnel at this point was now reduced to 17.

"We're gonna have to leg it!" said Sandman. "Weston, call for air support!"

"Roger that."

Weston called it in and Overlord sent in an F-15.

"Jester 5-5, engaging targets on the capital building."

An F-15 strafed the Russians on the roof across the street, wiping them out and stopping the bio-chemical strikes.

"Rooftop's clear! Let's move! The convoy should be at the end of the street! Gas masks on at all times!" said Sandman.

They came out of the building and engaged Infected in the streets.

"Whiskey Tangos at 12 o'clock coming out of the alley!" Sandler pointed out.

"Keep pushing through 'em! The convoy is at the corner at the end of the street!" said Foley.

"Incoming Charger!" warned Frost as he saw said Infected rushing towards the group.

He shot it down with his ACR as Bill covered him by shooting the rest of the Infected with his M16A2. Weston then rushed forward with Parker and Baker covering him.

"Fire in the hole!" said Weston.

He pulled out his M320 and fired 2 grenades at the large group of Infected, taking them out as they were blown to bits. Dunn took out his Desert Eagle once again and fired at the ones coming out of the flames and rushed towards them as they survived the explosion, taking them out slowly and carefully, aiming with each shot landing on the head. Dunn eventually killed all of them.

"Good riddance." he said.

The rest behind him got out of cover and slowly approached him, then stood next to him. They were suddenly startled by a loud roar of a massive group of Infected, and they rushed towards the team in all directions. Surrounded, they found themselves in a situation of back-to-back shooting. As they looked around and saw no escape, they raised their weapons and prepared for their apparent last stand.

"OPEN FIRE!" Bill yelled defiantly.

All of them fired full auto on the horde surrounding them.

Bill ran out of ammo for his M16A2 and pulled out the Raging Judge that Foley gave him and started shooting. Dunn proceeded to pistol whip the Infected with his Desert Eagle as he ran out of ammo. Frost attempted to hold them back by using his ACR as a melee weapon. Sandman pulled out his knife and only had two bullets left in his Five-Seven. He fired the first bullet at an Infected headed right for him and fired at the second one headed for the rest. He began to stab Infected to death with his knife. They seemed overrun and had no means of escape...

* * *

...until a machine gun went off in the distance and they heard rotor blades. Multiple missiles were fired and drew the Infected's attention. Bill looked around at the sky and saw a lone Apache.

"Look!" he directed everyone, pointing at the helicopter.

Everyone immediately turned to look up at said vehicle.

"This is Helix 8-1, providing air support."

"Hell fucking yeah!" cried Baker in joy.

"Thanks for the assist, Helix. We owe ya." said Weston, breathing a sigh of relief.

Sandman was then contacted by Overlord.

"Metal 0-1, have you reached the convoy?"

"Affirmative, Overlord. But we can't get to it yet! Watch the left side!"

They turned the corner and engaged another large group of Infected. They quickly dispatched a few of them with headshots and moved on slowly.

"Stand by. We'll clear a path!" said Helix 8-1.

Helix 8-1 fired multiple rockets and unloaded its machine gun. All the Infected were eliminated.

"We're clear!" said Rhino 2's gunner!

"Check the vehicles." Sandman instructed.

* * *

The group arrived at the Vice Presidential motorcade. Four heavily damaged SUVs, horns blaring, were scattered across the road. The group slowly approached and stayed frosty as they scanned the vicinity with their weapons ready to fire. The bodies of several Secret Service agents were still in the vehicles, but the Vice President nor Rochelle and Coach were among them. Rhino 2's gunner lifted the driver off the steering wheel of one to stop the horn.

"Nothing here!" he said.

"They're not here…" said Sandman, before radioing Overlord. "Overlord, negative precious cargo. I say again – they're not at the convoy."

"Copy. Check the area for any sign of the delegates or HVIs. But be advised – Raptor 4 will be on station for exfil in ten minutes, over."

"Copy your last." Sandman responded.

Ramirez, Foley, Dunn and the gunner spotted a trail of blood from the vehicles leading inside a building.

"Hey! There's a lot of blood over here. It's going up those stairs." said the gunner.

The soldiers and Bill carefully approached and went inside. They carefully kept an eye on the staircase.

"Easy…" said Sandman.

But out of nowhere, shadows appeared up the stairs.

"Contact!" yelled the gunner.

They entered the building on the left and went up the stairs, going as fast as they could as they chased the running hostiles. They heard Russian voices. When they got up the third floor, a Russian was seen quickly closing the door and two gunshots were heard. Frost quickly planted a breaching charge at the door. The charge exploded and Frost and Bill killed the Russians just before they could execute a seated hostage. One of the Russians was hit and on the floor and attempted to grab his gun, but Bill executed him with the rather fitting Raging Judge before he could do so, causing brain matter and blood to splatter on the floor and wall. The team entered and secured the room. Sandman immediately checked on the seated hostages.

"Look at me, look at me. It's him. Check the other one!" he ordered Foley.

Foley removed the sack from the head of the other hostage. The hostage was Coach, who was all beaten up with bruises, wounds, and a black eye on his face.

"Positive on the first HVI!" said Foley.

Coach, who was very weak and limping, attempted to get up and was helped up by Ramirez and Foley.

"We need Medivac. Dunn, check on these wounds!" Foley ordered Dunn.

"No hemorrhage or severe bleeding, but he has a fracture on his left leg. He won't make it far like this." the Corporal said.

Coach, weakened, started talking as he caught his breath.

"They…kept us in a cell for days, beat us…tortured us…the things they did to people….I'm praying to the Lord that they be stopped. They took her….they took her! It was a damn deal between Shepherd and the Russians!"

"Took who?" asked Sandman.

"Rochelle!" Coach responded. "Please get her!"

Dunn spotted a black MH-6 Little Bird from a distance while looking out the window.

"I see something!" he said.

Parker checked it out with the scope of his M40. He saw a man in a US Army uniform and realized who it was. He also spotted another hostage being held by Vinson and Lambert, two of Shepherd's lieutenants from his private military company.

"It's Shepherd! He has the second HVI!" he said.

"Ah hell…" muttered Dunn.

Sandman helped the US Vice President up.

"Overlord, P.I.D. on the Vice President and the first HVI. We're ready for extraction. But be advised, we have spotted Shepherd!" he told Overlord.

"Solid copy, 0-1. Good work. Raptor 4 is arriving on the scene now, but we need to catch Shepherd before he escapes."

"Get these guys home. We will go after them!" said Foley.

Sandman radioed Overlord again.

"Overlord, be advised – Hunter 2-1 is in hot pursuit of Shepherd.

They moved up to the balcony where a V-22 Osprey was hovering in to extract the team. Blackhawks and Pave Lows were deploying more troops, and Apaches were overlooking the area. Hunter 2-1 immediately hotwired a civilian SUV and rolled out.

"Truck, Grinch – we got our guy. We're on our way to LZ Neptune. Meet us there. We're going after Shepherd!" Sandman told his other two teammates.

Grinch was the one to respond.

"Alright. I guess the first round's on us."


	10. Old Friends, New Problems

**A/N: Hey, y'all. Before we start, we just wanted to say that we're so sorry to keep you waiting. We've been very busy with schoolwork and all that shit. But we've just recently started summer, so we're gonna be focusing on the story more often now, without any distractions.**

 **Anyway, all that said, let's get right into it.**

* * *

 _Day 32, 8:32 PM_

The Rangers trailed on Shepherd and relayed information to command. Marshall, Overlord, and a few high-ranking military officers were meeting in the briefing room of the USS Mount Whitney.

"Hunter 2-1 has tracked Shepherd's route heading southeast. We cannot send in any surveillance drones as of the moment. The apocalypse has us running on fumes." said Overlord as he assessed a large screen depicting Shepherd's route.

Marshall thought for a while before suddenly standing up and pointing at a location on the screen.

"Berlin! It has to be!"

"Sir, any evidence supporting this?" asked MacKenzie.

Marshall looked at her and nodded.

"Yeah. Before all this began…"

He then looked at Overlord, signaling him to speak of events that happened in Berlin before the outbreak.

"Berlin was the last known location of Boris Vorshevsky's daughter."

An officer took off his glasses and spoke up.

"The Russian president's daughter."

Overlord gave a quick nod.

"Affirmative. At approximately one week before worldwide outbreak and spread of the Green Flu, President Boris Vorshevsky's plane went down while flying over Western Russia. It was believed to be due to a breach of Green Flu on the plane."

Marshall placed his hand on his chin before he spoke next.

"But Green Flu isn't a natural epidemic. It's a biological weapon. Someone snuck it on board."

"And we don't know who's running the Russian government." said Overlord.

"The Russian Prime Minister and other high-ranking Russian officials were already reported to have been infected at the first stages of the outbreak. It could've been a coup d'etat." MacKenzie added.

"But by who?" questioned Marshall. "It could only be-"

The discussion was suddenly interrupted by live footage from Dunn's helmet cam. Foley was seen along with the other Rangers hiding in a building.

Foley looked directly into the camera.

"Overlord be advised, Shepherd has escaped in a Pave Low headed southeast. A large Infected horde is closing in on our position and we are running low on munitions."

"Copy that, 2-1. Hold your ground at all costs. A Marine extraction team will pick you up in approximately 24 hours." Overlord replied.

"Roger that."

* * *

 _70 miles southeast from Hamburg_

The Rangers took shelter in a mansion. They had nowhere to go as they couldn't maneuver past the Infected due to the presence of Shepherd's men.

Once they all gathered in the living room, Foley gave an announcement.

"Alright. We have top hold our ground until the Marine extraction team arrives. That is approximately 24 hours. Place all your remaining claymores around all the entrances. Barricade the windows and set up LMGs on the second floor windows. I need a sniper on the third floor balcony for a clear vantage point. We place all our munitions on the rooftop. Place a ladder from the third floor to get there. Hooah?"

"Hooah!"

"24 hours?" Dunn questioned. "Fan-fucking-tastic."

* * *

 _11:34 PM, USS Mount Whitney_

The Marines were preparing on deck. Warthog squad had been sent back to the aircraft carrier and issued new orders. In the armory, they prepared and geared up for an upcoming mission to extract Hunter 2-1 from a heavily infested area filled with the Infected.

Weston placed a round in his M320 grenade launcher and pulled the charging handle of his M4. Baker grabbed an M16A4 and a new silver Kimber Custom handgun. Parker attached a scope on his M40A5 and pulled the slide of his M9.

They moved up on deck and boarded a CH-53K King Stallion.

"Hunter 2-1 will signal us with flares. Let's bring these boys home." said Weston.

"Get ready and prepped for engagement against both Infected and conventional hostiles." Baker spoke up.

The large helicopter lifted off and headed for the Rangers' location. It turned out Nick had been observing the scene and continued to look at the chopper as it faded from view.

Zoey approached him from behind. Nick didn't even look back yet knew he was not alone.

"Be careful on who you trust." he told Zoey. "I bet those uniforms don't get half rations like we do. You trust them with the life of Bill?"

Zoey looked at him sternly.

"Don't bring Bill into this. And we're all starving. It might be a matter of time until this ship runs out of food supply, yet they're still feeding us."

"Maybe to appease us." said Nick. "But let's just see once it really runs out."

* * *

 _The briefing room_

"We got the bead on him. We use his info, then smoke him. If anyone is aware of what happened within the Russian government…it's Shepherd." said Marshall.

"Delta Force, with the addition of Sergeant Overbeck, can be dispatched for a search and rescue operation." Overlord suggested.

"That's phase one." said Marshall.

Overlord nodded and began speaking again.

"Phase two will be kill or capture objective on Shepherd. We can send in three Delta teams."

"Any local forces that are able to assist? Remnants of the German Self-Defense Force? Militia?" asked Marshall.

"I was able to pick up on a frequency of a safe-zone established by the Bundeswehr. They can provide armor support for our men on the ground." Overlord replied.

Marshall nodded.

"Good enough. Let's see what this bastard is up to."

"We're right behind you, General." MacKenzie told him.

* * *

 _Day 33, 3:48 AM, 70 miles southeast from Hamburg_

Ramirez was looking through a telescope they placed on the rooftop of the now heavily fortified mansion. He saw a large horde of almost a thousand. He stopped using the telescope and was seen by Foley with an anxious look.

"Herd closing in. No opening to out maneuver and they will be here in less than a day." he said to Foley.

Foley looked at the direction the horde was coming from.

"The Marines will be here. Let's just hope in time, private. Oh, and uh…get some rest. I'll have McCord take this shift."

* * *

 _USS Mount Whitney, briefing room_

"Three Delta teams will be dispatched. Estimated resistance is massive. High possibility of casualties." said Overlord.

Photos appeared on the large screen, showing Russian soldiers, Infected, and Shepherd. Marshall placed a hand on the table.

"Outgunned, outnumbered, and out of our minds."

He thought for a while, then looked at the countries near Germany on the map.

"MacKenzie, were you able to get in contact with any remaining resistance or any European military forces?"

"Affirmative, General. Our satellite frequencies were able to pick up on British and French safe zones." MacKenzie replied.

"That's all?" asked Marshall.

"Yes, sir. All government and structure in other nations have been reportedly overrun or have collapsed." MacKenzie replied.

Marshall stood up and places both of his hands on the table.

"Get me on the phone with the British government."

* * *

 _British Safe Zone, RAF Fairford_

The British government, now on the brink of collapse, struggled to survive. Large army tents had been set up on the airfield where rescued civilians resided. Many of them on stretchers and hospital beds. In a hangar that was the only building with electricity, British soldiers were in a hectic state as they tried to decide what to do next. Apparently, their efforts to save London were in vain. The SAS operation to stop the chemical attack had failed and the Green Flu was released into the country.

In the hangar, the Director of Special Forces viewed a map of Great Britain on a table with a few high-ranking British officials.

This man was none other that Major General MacMillan, Price's mentor.

A British soldier approached him.

"Sir, the Americans are on the line. They want a word with you."

MacMillan was accompanied by two SAS troopers on his left and right. These men were Sergeant Wallcroft and Sergeant Marcus Burns. They headed to a dark room with a large blue projection screen showing the world map. Many countries were colored red, indicating that these nations had fallen to the Green Flu. The speakers were activated and MacMillan began to speak with his dense Scottish accent.

"This is the Director of Special Forces and currently the highest ranking member alive in the government. What is your concern?"

Marshall's voice was then heard through the speakers.

"This is Brigadier General Marshall, current most high-ranking officer alive in the United States Military directly below the president himself. I'm sure you have seen what my assistant has sent you."

A large map depicting a planned operation in Berlin was seen by MacMillan on the screen.

"Alena Vorshevsky is a crucial lead. The Russian government isn't run by her father." said Marshall.

"With all due respect, General…this plan is quite daft. How do we even know that she is still alive?" asked MacMillan.

"Then tell me. Why are the Russians so eager to the idea of an invasion when the biological weapon itself could have done their job for them? And even when taking the situation wherein she is killed into account, there are many things this operation can achieve, such as paving the way for the German defense force to re-liberate Germany. I also have a civilian HVI in the hands of rogue American troops." Marshall stated.

"Believe me, General. I would." MacMillan began. "But I can't afford to lose anymore men. Let alone the remnants of our special operations. My hands are full with the bleeding at home. We lost the Prime Minister, more than half the country, three safe zones. I'm lucky enough to have escaped my headquarters in Hereford before it was overrun."

"I understand the gravity of your situation. Let's face it, Director. We can never beat the Green Flu. We continue to lose numbers every day and the global death toll will continue to rise unless we gain an edge over it. Russia or whoever's leading it now somewhat has it already." said Marshall.

MacMillan took a moment of silence and pondered on his decision for a few seconds. Then, he nodded.

"Alright, General. I'll provide you with necessary support for this operation."

He stepped out onto the airfield and met with a British Colonel named O'Leary. He handed O'Leary a file.

"Colonel, get the choppers flying and head for these coordinates. Your destination is an American aircraft carrier, the USS Mount Whitney."

* * *

 _4:32 AM_

The SAS prepared to head for the aircraft carrier. Three groups were sent. Each of them led by Sergeant Wallcroft, Captain Barton, and Captain Bell. They boarded the Sea King helicopters and lifted off.

* * *

 _Moscow, Russia, Loyalist safehouse near Zakhaev International Airport_

The Task Force 141, SEAL Team Six, and the Loyalist rebels continued on their main objective even before the outbreak – Hunt down Makarov. It had been speculated that he had something to do with the release of the biological weapon, the Green Flu.

A huge bulletin board with files, pictures and names was present on the wall. This was a web of information showing their current leads on Makarov. In this room were Worm, Yuri, Kamarov, Price, Ghost, Soap, and Roach. Price contacted Sandman through a military laptop using whatever satellites were left functioning in Earth's orbit.

"You can use the satellite frequency I sent you to get in contact with him." said Sandman.

"Appreciate it. Good luck out there, lad." said Price.

"You too, Cap."

Price then activated a mike and speaker and switched to a different frequency.

* * *

 _British Safe Zone, RAF Fairford_

"O.C., we've got a caller with a lead on the chemical attacks. Says he'll only speak to you." said O'Leary.

Connection was then established between Baseplate and the caller.

"Identify yourself."

"Mac. It's John."

Russia's movement across Europe was shown as SAS casualties were listed.

"We put a lot of names on the clock tower this week, lad." MacMillan said with a sigh.

Makarov's profile was shown on the laptop screen MacMillan was looking at.

"It was Makarov. The bastard slipped through my fingers in Sierra Leone before the outbreak went global." said Price. "What does MI6 know?"

"You could have been on everyone's shit-list, John. It's a good thing you exposed Shepherd before he framed you. Still…there's no way I could get you clearance."

Images of their mission in Pripyat back in '96 were shown on the screen.

"Don't give me that! You still owe me for Pripyat. I'm calling it in." said Price.

"Easy, son." MacMillan replied.

The multiple shipments' paths were traced from the cities which they were delivered to in Algiers, which came from Bosaso, Somalia. This was all seen by Price as MacMillan sent the files.

"Alright. This is what we had before all tracking and surveillance was cut off from the apocalypse. We've traced the delivery freighter to an outfit in Bosaso, Somalia. It's run by a nasty piece of work named Waraabe."

Waraabe's profile was then shown on the screen.

"My hands are full with the bleeding at home, so you're on your own. Good hunting."

* * *

 _USS Mount Whitney, survivors' quarters_

The survivors were resting were resting in their quarters as two Marines entered.

"We're looking for a man identified as…Ellis?" said one of them.

Nick crossed his arms and eyed them suspiciously.

"Why?"

"Listen, pal. I'm supposed to do something you wouldn't like for questioning, but we're all on edge here. We just need him for assistance with some mechanical engineering." replied the Marine.

Ellis got up from a bed and approached the soldiers.

"Ellis here, at your service. Whaddya need, pal?"

"There's a problem with the pipes and the ventilation system by the mess halls. We're short on engineers who are already working on the maintenance of the Raptor jets." replied the Marine.

Ellis nodded.

"Alright. I'll see what I can do."

He went with the Marines and Nick remained in the quarters.

* * *

 _1 hour later, 5:32 AM_

Ellis returned to the quarters, exhausted from fixing the pipes and ventilation systems and from lack of sleep. He lay down and fell asleep in no time. There was a piece of paper in his hand. Nick noticed it and grabbed it while Ellis was asleep. He looked it over and saw something he could use.

"Hmm…so the mess halls lead to the security room…then a vent apparently off limits even to Ellis is marked here. This has to be it." he said to himself.

Nick's distrust towards the military continued despite being provided with shelter and food rations. The rest of the civilian survivors did not share the same view, so he went to do some investigating of his own. He stepped out of his quarters and saw two soldiers walking down the hallway. He let them pass and waited until they were out of sight completely. He then snuck into the quarters of a few Marines.

"Come on, must be something here that can get me in. IDs, key cards…"

He went through every drawer looking for such items, but he did not find anything.

"Damn it."

He placed his hand on the wall and scratched his head in frustration. He turned around and was about to leave, but then saw a MARPAT battle dress uniform with a cap and balaclava as well as military boots in the opened drawer. He then came up with a clever idea. He changed into the uniform and packed his suit into a military issue backpack. He then left and passed the mess halls. He got nervous but successfully blended in without the soldiers sitting on the chairs and tables getting suspicious. He was now right outside the security room, when all of a sudden…

"CORPORAL!"

A Marine Sergeant saw him and then approached him. He was apparently able to see the rank placed on the collar of the uniform Nick stole.

"Get back to your shift in the security room immediately! We cannot afford any form of desertion no matter how minor or major at this point of time, so get yourself together! GO!"

"Right away, Sarge." Nick replied.

The Sergeant walked away.

"What a shitbrain…" he muttered.

Nick entered the security room, shaken and sweaty after his encounter with the Marine Sergeant.

"Shit…too fucking close. Okay. Now for the vent." he said to himself.

He saw the open vent guarded by two Marines and a Navy Masters-At-Arms sailor. Nick proceeded to the other side of the room and drastically increased the pressure of the steam in the pipes, once again causing them to leak and break and apparently ruin Ellis' hard work in fixing them. This successfully created a distraction and the three guards went to check it out. Nick quickly snuck by them undetected and headed for the open vent.

"Ah hell. They popped again." complained one of the Marines.

"I'll call in an engineer to get this fixed again." said the Navy sailor.

Nick was now inside the vent. He crawled forward until he reached a dead end. He was barely able to see through the slits on the other end, so he decided to simply eavesdrop on whatever he could hear.

Then, he heard two familiar voices.

"Sergeant Overbeck has classified information on the biological weapon. Dating decades back apparently. He knows what Shepherd knows. We don't need the immunes, but he has agreed to share what he knows in exchange for their safety. I need an increased security detail escorting them at all times." said Marshall.

"Understood, sir." Overlord replied.

Nick growled silently.

"Son of a bitch knows something…"

Then, he heard a door open. MacKenzie entered the room and saluted Marshall.

"General, the engineers have the Raptors prepped. They are headed to the security room now to assess the maintenance problems." she said to her commanding officer.

Nick's eyes widened.

"Oh shit. Better get the fuck outta here."

* * *

 **Thank you so much for reading this chapter. Next one will be coming soon.**


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